Bond denied for married couple accused of raping a teen

DALTON, Georgia(WDEF) – A second person has been arrested in connection to a reported rape of a teenage girl.

Whitfield County sheriff deputies arrested Timothy Pittman, 42, over the weekend.

Authorities had already arrested his wife Shannon Pittman, 41, last week. But after she was taken into custody, her husband reportedly went into hiding.

"The male subject basically just vanished for a few days then we got information where he would be located. We coordinated everything and was able to pick him up without any incident so that’s how he was taken into custody and brought in this past week," said Whitfield County Sheriff Scott Chitwood.

The married couple are both facing multiple sexual assault charges including sodomy and rape of a teenage girl.

According to the arrest affidavit, the teen told her parent she was assaulted inside a residence on Haigmill Road. Shannon Pittman is accused of getting the girl drunk on hard liquor before she and her husband sexually assaulted the teen.

Investigators told News 12 this might be the first time they’ve arrested a married couple accused of sexual assault on a minor.

"It’s certainly not your standard sexual charges that we’re familiar with on a daily basis so with the circumstances of how this came about; the parties involved, yes a little unusual for what we normally do," Chitwood said.

The case is so unusual that even experts at the rape crisis center said they could not find a crime statistic that addresses rape allegations involving married couples as suspects.

"I don’t really know any specific rates of that. I will say that each case is different and each case has different dynamics to it so we have to look at cases on an individual case by case basis," said Rape Crisis Center Supervisor Caroline Huffaker.

A judge denied bond to the Pittman’s based on the nature of the charges as well as the circumstances surrounding the allegations.

In an effort to protect the identity of the young victim, News 12 has omitted several facts and details that were written in the arrest affidavit.