A antigay evangelical youth pastor from Alabama was just sentenced to over 1,000 years in prison after pleading guilty to over two dozen child-sex charges.
39-year-old Paul Acton Bowen, a youth pastor and self-proclaimed best-selling author, entered guilty pleas to 28 counts of sexual abuse involving six victims, all young males between the ages of 13 and 16, in an Etowah County court last week.
The charges included enticing a child for a sexual act, sodomy, traveling to meet a child for a sexual act, and sexual abuse. One of the victims said the youth pastor raped him multiple times between 2006 and 2009. Another said he similar abuse from 2014 through 2017. And another said Bowen molested him in 2018.
On Friday, Circuit Judge Debra Jones sentenced Bowen to 1,008 years in prison plus ordered him to pay $840,000 in fines. But his legal troubles aren’t over yet.
AL.com reports:
Bowen still faces trial in Jefferson County on three felony charges of traveling to meet a child for sex, enticing a child for a sexual act and sodomy. Trial is set on those charges for April 20, 2020. If Bowen ever should be released from jail on his Etowah County convictions–which prosecutors said was unlikely–he would be considered a “sexually violent predator,” which means he would face a 10-year probationary period.
Bowen’s attorney tried arguing that his client suffered from PTSD from his own experiences of being sexually molested as a minor.
Just before his sentencing, Bowen read a statement to the packed courtroom, which included several of his victims and their families, and said: “The shame and guilt I feel is overwhelming and has been for a long time. My heart was never wanting to hurt anybody but my mind was not well.”
Police say they believe there are more victims who have yet to come forward. District Attorney Jody Willoughby has vowed to prosecute any additional cases against Bowen.
“There’s not a question in my mind,” he said. “If anyone is out there who wants to come forward, please let law enforcement know. We will get justice, justice will be had.”
Related: Another antigay pastor has been busted on child sex charges
Josh in OR
“1,008 years’ is a nonsense punishment.
Once your punishment passes a normal human lifespan, you should just be executed. Clearly, your crime was so heinous that no one wants you on the street ever again. So why waste a lifetime of taxpayer dollars keeping your subhuman ass alive?
Locking this ‘man’ up for ‘1,008 years’ does nothing but display how idiotic our ‘justice’ system is.
JLinMN
Death penalty is an easy out. He deserves to sit in a hole, with no freedom and get beat down every day by others. Killing him, just lets him off easy.
Harley
It’s a death sentence. Child molesters don’t last long in prison.
GayEGO
Why not put him in prison as a bottom, he will feel the pain as his anal canal is penetrated!
iminheatlikeacat
Whilst American sentencing seems nonsensical, as such in this case, and overly harsh in others, if this was in the UK, he either would have been let off, or given a 2 year sentence, which he would only have to serve half of. But there’s not any less crime in America given stats and size comparisons so I don’t know if longer prison sentences here would work.
G-Man
As the saying goes those that scream the loudest usually have the most to hide, good luck in prison when Bubba sets his sights on you, you’re going to get what you gave.
GayEGO
Amen!
Rock-N-RollHS
Sad. Cute guy. Alabama? The officials going after him clearly relish this kind of stuff. Rape is thrown around so loosely these days that I wonder what transpired.
mountainmaat
Dunno bout y’all but I was licked and played with at 13. Sought it ever since. By the time I could drive – I scored all sorts of dick. Age didn’t matter to me.
Kangol2
@Rock-N-RollHS, so you’re defending a homophobic pedophile because you think he’s cute? Yikes!
GayEGO
Maybe he is a rimma-donna!
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Gay Karma at work once again!
Kangol2
Or anti-gay karma! As they say, this one is par for the course.
RyanMBecker
“The charges included enticing a child for a sexual act, sodomy…”
Why was he charged with sodomy when it was decriminalized by the Supreme Court in 2003 (Lawrence v Texas)? His crimes only went back to 2006, when it was no longer a crime.
sfhairy
Most likely because it was with a child.
renzinthewoods
“It is a common misconception in Alabama that oral or anal sex between unmarried parties is a crime. These types of actions only become a crime if they are done without the consent of either party or under circumstances where one party either physically, mentally or legally is unable to give consent.” sodomy is anal or oral and genital contact in the enlightened state of Alabama…what a sh#thole place.
Zombiez8mybrain
@renzinthewoods Before judging Alabama as a whole, re-read what you quoted, especially the part that says “…or legally unable to give consent.”
The victims were between 13 and 16 years of age. Legally, they cannot give consent to an adult to have sexual contact with them. That is why he was charged with sodomy. Not because Alabama views anal, oral, and genital contact (under normal circumstances) as sodomy.
Bob Amsel
Think about this. The pastor got 1,008 years for raping six teenage boys. Had he raped six teenage girls, he’d have received a slap on the wrist. (Just check with Roy Moore.)
Cam
Another right wing bigot turns out to be a rapist and a child molester. So…business as usual.
yup5hioop
President Trump was rumored to rape a 13 yr old girl. I tend to believe it.