A former teacher and children’s author has been arrested for sexually abusing a student over 20 years ago in California.
Paul Edward Lowe, 61, was arrested on 9th November and charged with 14 counts of sexual assault against a boy.
The Riverside Police Department (RPD) said in a statement on 17th November: “In September of 2021, the Riverside Police Department’s Sexual Assault – Child Abuse Unit (SACA) began an investigation after a 32-year-old man reported he had been sexually abused by his 4th grade teacher over 20 years ago while attending a local school in Riverside.”
The police said “most of these sexual assaults occurred away from school”, but there were also times when the alleged abuse took place on the school grounds.
The victim was reportedly abused by the teacher at Taft Elementary School in the city of Riverside in the US state of California between 1997 and 2002.
The RPD said: “The teacher alleged to have committed these assaults has been identified as Paul Edward Lowe, 61-years-old of Corona. Mr. Lowe taught at Taft Elementary School in Riverside for about five years between the 1997 and 2002 school years until he suddenly resigned.”
The suspect’s resignation followed a conviction for sexually assaulting a child in Los Angeles County, and he was subsequently put on the sex offender registry.
The police said: “His resignation stemmed from an arrest and conviction for sexual assault of a minor that occurred in Los Angeles County. Mr. Lowe has been required to register as a sex offender because of that prior conviction”, adding that as well as teaching in Riverside, he worked for the “YMCA and as an AYSO youth soccer coach in Los Angeles County”.
As well as those positions, the suspect was a youth football coach in Big Bear and spent “two years as a private school teacher in Hacienda Heights” in the early 1990s.
Additionally, the former teacher wrote children’s books under the author name ‘Edric Phoenix’, according to the police.
The RPD statement continued: “On Tuesday, November 9, 2021, SACA Detectives arrested and booked Mr. Lowe into the Robert Presley Detention Center for these recent allegations, and the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office has since charged him with 14 counts of sexual assault against a child.”
The suspect is currently in jail on a bail bond of USD 5 million.
Meanwhile, the police suspect there could be other victims and have called on anyone with information to come forwards.
The police probe is ongoing.
