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	Jury Finds Weleetka Pastor Not Guilty on Nine Counts of Lewd Molestation By Ann Kelley The Oklahoman November 12, 2010 http://newsok.com/jury-finds-weleetka-pastor-not-guilty-on-nine-counts-of-lewd-molestation/article/3513606 The attorney for Marvin James Lowe, 57, says his client pinched, touched and tickled the girls, but didn't realize it made the children uncomfortable. Lowe will be sentenced Dec. 2 on six misdemeanor counts of domestic abuse. A jury acquitted a pastor of molesting five young church members, opting instead to convict him of domestic abuse charges. Marvin James Lowe, 57, of Weleetka, is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 2 on six misdemeanor counts of domestic abuse. An Okfuskee County jury exercised its option to convict Lowe of a lesser crime and found him not guilty on nine counts of lewd molestation of a child. Defense attorney Dennis Seacat said the allegations against Lowe stemmed from one family, originating with a young girl telling another about Lowe touching her. Seacat said there was never any evidence of Lowe molesting the children, although he did pinch, tickle and touch the girls. “It was innocent,” Seacat said. “Mr. Lowe is an affectionate person and grew up in an affectionate family. He didn't realize what he was doing made the girls uncomfortable.” He said Lowe's daughters testified that their father exhibited the same types of behavior toward them while they were growing up, and they never considered it sexual or inappropriate. Lowe grew up in Weleetka and was a pastor at the Arbeka Indian Baptist Church near there. He worked as a maintenance man for the Creek Nation tribe. Seacat said the accusations have cost Lowe his good reputation, job and more than $30,000 in court fees and fines. It's also changed his attitude toward children. “He's afraid to be alone with his own grandchildren for fear that someone might suggest that he's done something wrong,” Seacat said. The accusations against Lowe were waged six months after Skyla Whitaker, 11, and Taylor Placker, 13, were shot to death on an isolated road near Taylor's home. The Arbeka Indian Baptist Church is about a mile from where they were found. Seacat said the murders shook the small community, and uneasy attitudes likely played a part in the accusations against Lowe. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation never considered Lowe a suspect in the murders. Jessica Brown, OSBI spokeswoman, said then that agents would obviously look at anyone in the area arrested for a crime against children, but that Lowe was “no more a person of interest that anyone else.” Seacat was critical of the way the OSBI handled the allegations against his client. Lowe was harshly questioned by agents, and the whole time adamantly denied molesting the girls, he said. “But by the time the OSBI got done with him, they'd turned what he did into something evil,” Seacat said.
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