Duke officer charged with rape

DURHAM -- A Duke University police officer was arrested and charged with rape in Alabama over the weekend.

Webster Delenn Simmons, 37, of Rougemount, was charged with raping and sodomizing a female relative after they went to a club Saturday night, the Houston County Sheriff's Office said. The woman was found bound and gagged. The alleged sexual assault was reported between 1 and 4 a.m., the sheriff's office said.

Simmons, who was arrested Monday, remained at the Houston County jail in lieu of $120,000 bail.

Duke officials learned of the arrest after the sheriff's office contacted university police, Duke spokesman David Jarmul said. Simmons has been with the department for over a year.

"We're cooperating with the investigation," Jarmul said.

Simmons was a Raleigh police officer from 1998 until 2007.

Staff writer Stanley B. Chambers