Ark. Firefighter Accused of Raping Woman in Firehouse

Nov. 21, 2013
The victim's father was arrested after he fired shots at the suspect and others.

Nov. 19--A Crawford County firefighter is accused of raping a woman Monday, an incident that resulted in the alleged victim's father firing shots at him and others, authorities said.

"There was a sexual assault ... a rape that occurred at the District Six Fire Department on Pleasant Valley Road," Crawford County Chief Deputy Jim Damante said. "The female claimed she was raped (by a firefighter) in an office in the building."

Investigators with the Crawford County Sheriff's Office arrested the firefighter Monday night. Damante identified him as Jimmy Sullivent III, 34. Damante confirmed that the suspect is the son of Jim Sullivent, chief of the District Six Fire Department.

The alleged victim, Damante said, told her father about the rape, which she said happened around 11:30 a.m.

The woman's father traveled to the residence off Mount Grove Road near Alma where Jimmy Sullivent III was at around 6:30 or 7 p.m., Damante said.

"The suspect was standing outside his girlfriend's house," Damante said. "The dad fired several rounds at the house. He hit the house several times and hit some vehicles, then fled the scene."

Six other people were outside the residence with Sullivent when the shots were fired. One shot struck the driver's side of a vehicle in which one person was sitting, according to Damante.

The father, Damante said, was arrested at his residence east of Alma on suspicion of seven counts of aggravated assault.

"He was shooting at the people," Damante said. "He was shooting at person-height level."

The woman told investigators that Sullivent raped her. Sullivent was arrested after investigators questioned him.

Sullivent was booked into the Crawford County Detention Center. On Tuesday afternoon, a Detention Center official said bond for Sullivent had not been set and that he had not been released from the jail.

Copyright 2013 - Times Record, Fort Smith, Ark.

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