A former police chief has been indicted on rape and incest charges by a grand jury in Alabama.

Brian “Scott” Martin faces felony charges of rape, sodomy, incest, and distributing an illegal substance to a minor. He is accused of raping a family member who was “incapable of consent by reason of being physically helpless or mentally incapacitated”.

Mr Martin, who led the police force in the small city of Lipscomb, had been fired from his job in August over separate drug allegations.

At the end of July police had executed a search of Mr Martin's home and found marijuana nd a bong, a later search of his patrol car led to the discovery of more cannabis and another bong.

Mr Martin was then charged with with misdemeanour counts of second-degree marijuana possession and possession of drug paraphernalia, according to documents filed in St Clair County District Court.

The latest indictment came as Mr Martin was arrested on 21 December following an alleged DUI in Pell City.

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Court records from that incident indicated that Mr Martin blew a 0.11 in a breathalyser test, and had nearly hit a police cruiser during the incident.

Mr Martin had been booked in the St Clair County Jail, but officials say that he is no longer in custody after posting $100,000 bail.

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Mr Martin has responded to the rape and incest charges by telling AL.com that “all of the stuff is not true”.

“I’m just going to battle it out in court. That’s all I can do,” he said.