The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

August 27, 2008

Violent sexual predator gets stiff prison sentence

By Patrick W. Connelly

PINE TOWNSHIP — A Pine Township man a social worker said was driven by pornography and unable to stop sexually assaulting children was sentenced on Wednesday to at least 47 1/2 years in prison.

Jeffrey Craig Bowser, 46, of 1320 W. Main St., was sentenced by Mercer County Court of Common Pleas President Judge Francis J. Fornelli, who also ruled him a violent sexual predator.

Bowser pleaded guilty in February to molesting a teenage boy and a mentally disabled girl. He also pleaded to charges he videotaped the acts and taped children using the bathroom and shower in his home.

Bowser told the children, who were both under the age of 13 when the sexual assaults began, he would kill them if they told anyone, their mother told Fornelli before the sentencing.

The deviant behavior may stem from an incident where Bowser himself was molested as a 10-year-old boy, said Molly Wagner, a social worker for the state sexual offenders’ assessment board who evaluated Bowser in Mercer County Jail.

The incident “socially isolated” him and spawned sexually-related criminal activity, she said.

Bowser began stealing pornography at age 15 and was caught stealing women’s underwear while a student at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Wagner said.

A hobby of collecting adult pornography soon turned into an interest in child pornography that urged him to find ways to make his own, she said.

Bowser was released in 1998 from jail after serving time on separate charges and began molesting children the next year, she said.

He began videotaping the girl, who is now an adult, when she was 11 years old and would masturbate in front of children when they spent the night in his home, Ms. Wagner said.

Bowser created an elaborate storage system of the video footage and also saved child pornography he found online, she said.

“It was (like getting) a high for him,” Ms. Wagner said. “It was a compulsion. He was unable to stop.”

Fornelli told Bowser he couldn’t understand how someone who was abused himself could “turn around” and do it to others.

“You’re a prime example of a man who has destroyed himself morally and in other ways,” Fornelli said.

Bowser was sentenced on charges of involuntary sexual assault, possession of child pornography, aggravated indecent assault, sexual abuse of children, involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, filming deviant sexual intercourse, corruption of minors and invasion of privacy.

The maximum sentence on those charges could run to 114 years, Fornelli said.

Text Only
Local News
  • Storm blows in fast, leaves damage

    A scattered storm that started in Michigan and pulled in moisture over Lake Erie organized itself into a locally-severe storm system Sunday over Mercer County.

    May 28, 2012

  • transit Transit is once-in-a-lifetime show

    A rare celestial wonder that won’t be seen again for more than a century is set to play out before our eyes and Farrell’s resident astronomer  is giving locals a chance to get a first-hand look at a “black dawn.”

    May 28, 2012 1 Photo

  • Ominous clouds Storms rumble through parts of Mercer County

    Temperatures dropped nearly 20 degrees Sunday as storms rumbled through parts of Mercer County in the afternoon and again in the evening. Some areas experienced high gusting winds during the early storms. The later storms were less windy, but dumped a lot of rain in a short span in the Shenango Valley as well as outlying areas. Temperatures are forecast for in the 90s on Memorial Day, with a chance of storms in the afternoon. Check out Sunday's Herald both in print and here for more details.

     

     

    May 27, 2012 1 Photo

  • Board wants pay freeze


    Sharon City School District officials are asking staff to take a wage freeze for the second year in a row to help cover a $1.9 million gap in the 2012-2013 budget in the face of further funding cuts by the state.

    May 27, 2012

  • City taps Pa. grant for downtown facelift


    The colorful flower baskets hanging in downtown Sharon are just one of the planted seeds officials hope will help the once-bustling area grow.

    May 27, 2012

  • pension graphic Pension bomb ticking for city

    The city of Sharon pays more people who don’t work there anymore than folks who still do.

    And the amount of money the city must pay to the retirees is going up about $250,000 next year, a hike that creates more problems for the cash-strapped town, City Manager Scott Andrejchak said.

    May 26, 2012 1 Photo

  • Church softball league to Mormons: You’re out!

    The Grove City Area Church Softball League’s decision to exclude a Mormon team from Slippery Rock has sparked a controversy far beyond the local sandlot.

    May 26, 2012

  • Fired bus driver files lawsuit

    A Mercer County woman fired from her job as a school bus driver over a 25-year-old drug conviction filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against a state education official and Jamestown Area School District.

    May 26, 2012

  • Recycling program a bit too popular

    The  county’s effort at going green by encouraging recycling in rural areas has been a tremendous success by most accounts, but isn’t without a few glitches. In Wilmington Township, residents often only have a window of a few minutes to get cardboard recyclables in before the bin is full, prompting a discussion among Mercer County Commissioners Wednesday morning.

    May 25, 2012

  • District will tap reserve fund

    Reynolds school directors plan to fill a $374,567 hole in the 2012-2013 budget with money from the district’s fund balance.

    May 25, 2012