Former teacher sentenced to 45 years on child sex charges
E/C Annie
PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) -- A former public school teacher was sentenced to
45 years in prison for pleading guilty to sodomy, child pornography and
other counts involving 24 boys and young teenagers.
Kelly Karl Bowen, 31, made the deal in December. It called for him to
identify possible additional victims as long as no other charges were
filed.
After Tuesday's sentencing, Commonwealth's Attorney Earl Mobley told
13News, "The people in our community don't have to worry about this
person ever being on the streets again. He's essentially got a life
sentence."
Bowen worked for Portsmouth Schools about 10 years.
He was arrested last June after police seized his home computer
following a sexually explicit online conversation in which one party
was an undercover officer.
In his computer's memory and floppy disks, authorities found hundreds
of electronic images of child pornography, including pictures of naked
children, Bowen performing sex acts on children and child pornography
from other sources.
After further investigation, Bowen was indicted on two dozen charges,
including three counts of forcible sodomy of a child under the age of
13. He was also charged with numerous counts of possessing child
pornography, manufacturing child pornography and using a computer to
solicit obscene images.
The crimes occurred between the summers of 2000 and 2004, and each
charge represented a known victim, according to McGuire and the
indictments. They were boys from elementary school-age to 16 at the
time of the crimes, prosecutors said.
Investigators believe Bowen used his computer to contact children he
met through school or through a clogging team that he ran.
He would pose as a young girl, often asking boys to send him sexually
explicit pictures of themselves.
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