Authorities say a former Alabama state trooper accused of rape has been arrested and fired.

Alabama Law Enforcement Agency spokesman Steve Jarrett says 36-year-old Samuel H. McHenry II was arrested Tuesday on rape and sodomy charges.

Alabama Secretary of Law Enforcement Spencer Collier said in a statement that the severity of the allegations against McHenry are unsettling and that he’s accused of engaging in criminal activity while he was on duty.

Authorities say McHenry was taken to the Butler County jail in Greenville. It’s unclear if he has an attorney and a call to a phone number listed for McHenry wasn’t answered.

Jarrett says additional information is not being released and the case is under investigation with help from the Butler County Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office.

Charlotte Tesmer, district attorney for the Second Judicial Circuit, has recused herself and her office from the case.

“Because he covered two of my counties and has cases pending in my circuit, I recused my office from the prosecution of the case and requested that Attorney General Luther Strange’s office handle the case,” Tesmer said.

The Second Judicial Circuit is made up of Butler, Crenshaw and Lowndes Counties.