More trouble: Alabama youth minister Paul Edward Acton Bowen, 37, is picture din his latest mugshot after he was re-arrested Tuesday and additional charges of child sex abuse
An Alabama youth evangelist who was arrested last week on charges of sexually abusing a boy was back in jail on Tuesday on additional criminal charges.
Paul Edmond Acton Bowen, 37, who falsely claimed to be a Fox News contributor, is now charged with abusing four minors between the ages of 12 and 17 for years, according to a statement from the Etowah County Sheriff’s Department.
Bowen, a youth speaker, author and founder of Acton Bowen Outreach, was charged with two counts of second-degree sodomy, three counts of second-degree sexual abuse, and two counts of enticing a child for immoral purposes.
Authorities said some of the victims are now adults and have come forward to report what happened.
Bowen was jailed in Etowah County with bail set at $500,000. He was released on bond last week following his initial arrest on similar charges.
Bowen has released a statement denying any inappropriate conduct, and his lawyer, Richard Jaffe, said ‘unsubstantiated rumors’ that spread over the last few days had materialized.
Bowen was first arrested last week for allegedly molesting a young boy. He is pictured left in his first booking photo and right in his second mugshot taken at Jefferson County Jail
Wedded bliss no more: Social media posts indicate that he married Ashley Nabors (left) in 2015 in Hawaii. She has now filed for divorce
‘Acton, until last week, enjoyed an unblemished national and statewide reputation for spreading the gospel and helping those in need. He continues to weather the storm,’ Jaffe said.
Court records show his wife, Ashley Bowen, filed for divorce last week following his first arrest. The two married in 2015 and have no children.
The woman’s divorce complaint cited by Al.com stated, in part, that ‘she has fully cooperated with law enforcement with regards to any information requested from her related to the investigation of the crimes for which [Acton Bowen] is alleged to have committed.’
Bowen’s first arrest came at the conclusion of a three-week investigation by Hoover Police Department’s Special Victims Unit. The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office issued a warrant for Bowen’s arrest on April 9.
‘Mr. Bowen is in a highly-respected position of influence and he is trusted by many,’ Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector told Al.com. ‘We believe he betrayed that trust in the worst kind of way.’
Rector described the first victim as a young family acquaintance of Bowen’s and said he was now safe and ‘doing well.’ No further details will be made public regarding the case, given the sexual nature of the alleged crimes and the age of the victim.
Bowen operates the Acton Bowen Outreach – a youth ministry based out of Gadsden. On his official website, which has been taken offline, the 37-year-old pastor was described as a speaker, best-selling author and ‘visionary.’
The website said Bowen was a cohost of Top3 on the JuceTV Network – a youth-oriented Christian television network in New York City.
Bowen is the founder of the Acton Bowen Outreach in Alabama who also claimed to be a religion correspondent for Fox News
Juce TV’s website does not list Bowen as a cohost of Top 3, which is now known as The Crew.
Bowen also claimed in his online biography to have served as a Fox News correspondent covering faith and religion, but a spokesperson for the network said he never worked at the network, or appeared on air as a contributor or correspondent.
For a dozen years, Bowen led a citywide student Bible study in Gadsden, and in 2012 he travelled to the UK to serve as a chaplain in the London Summer Olympics.
His 2017 book, ‘Escape the Noise: A 30-Day Devotional Journey for Students,’ made it onto the New York Times Best Sellers List and the Amazon Top 100 list.
Social media posts indicate that he married his fiancee in 2015 in Hawaii. On his Twitter account Bowen described himself as a ‘believer’ and a ‘husband.