Husband Hired Homeless Drug Addict To Rape His Wife For $200

BAKERSFIELD, CA — Authorities have shared shocking details from a 2016 sexual-assault case in which, they say, a married man hired a "homeless drug addict" to rape his wife for $200.

In March 2016, officers responded to reports of an accident at the Tehachapi home of Russell Higgins, 48, and his unnamed wife. According to court documents, however, what happened was no accident.

After letting the police in, the wife told them that she had come home to see her husband waiting in their darkened bedroom alongside someone she described as a “younger black man.”

The wife then reported that Higgins and the stranger tied her up and forced her down on the bed, whereupon the other man raped her while her husband watched and directed him.

In the course of the attack, the wife said she bit her husband’s hand, and he told her to let the rape continue or it would be “very bad” for her, their children, and their grandchildren.

Afterward, the wife told detectives that Higgins ordered her to shower. Fortunately, she said she had the wherewithal to just wet her hair instead of having a full shower in order to preserve any physical evidence.

She also reportedly took the husband’s phone and gave it to officers, who said it was loaded with rape-themed pornographic images and videos.

Investigators working the case eventually followed leads to Union Avenue, a notorious strip about 50 miles away in Bakersfield that’s overrun with drugs, prostitution, and other street vice.

Out on Union Avenue, the cops found Haliki Green, a self-described <em>“homeless drug addict”</em> who claimed Higgins was known in the area for hiring local wanderers to come home with him and have sex with his wife.

Eventually, Green told detectives that Higgins had, in fact, paid him $200 to rape the wife. Green said he thought the couple was just indulging in fantasy and “role play.” Neither the police nor a jury bought it, though.

In separate trials, both Higgins and Green were found guilty of multiple charges of rape and false imprisonment. They now each face up to 50 years in prison.

Read more: KRON, Bakersfield Now, KGET