Evangelist pleads not guilty in child sex charges

HOOVER, Ala. — A prominent Alabama youth evangelist pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disorder and not guilty to 19 child sex felonies.

The Etowah County charges against 38-year-old Paul Edward Acton Bowen, founder of Acton Bowen Outreach, allege sex crimes against five boys between the ages of 12 and 16.

AL.com reported Circuit Judge David Kimberley noted that Bowen plans to challenge the constitutionality of two other felonies, and reserved arraignment on them Monday.

Those two charges are traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act and facilitating, arranging, providing or paying for a child’s transport for the purpose of a sex act.

Bowen was being held without bond in the Etowah County Jail in Hoover, a suburb of Birmingham. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment, AL.com said

An Etowah County grand jury issued six indictments against him in June.

He also has been indicted in Jefferson County on charges of second-degree sodomy, enticing a child to enter a vehicle or house for immoral purposes and traveling to meet a child for an unlawful sex act.

The Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Florida also has an arrest warrant accusing Bowen of “lewd and lascivious battery of a child under 16” — sexual activity with a child older than 12 but younger than 16 — sometime between June 1 and Aug. 31, 2016.

Following his April arrest by Hoover police, Bowen released a statement denying any inappropriate conduct.