A Christian missionary from Pennsylvania was sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison Thursday for sexually assaulting girls at a Kenyan orphanage he led.
Gregory Dow, 61, of Lancaster, and his family started the Dow Family Children’s Home near Boito, Kenya, in 2008 and operated it for about a decade with some funding coming from U.S. churches and faith-based groups. Federal prosecutors say he returned home in 2017 when Kenyan authorities began investigating sexual abuse allegations. The FBI said he abused four girls, including two who were 11 years old when the abuse began. Prosecutors said his wife even took his victims to a medical clinic for birth control implants, enabling his crimes.
Dow pleaded guilty to the four-count indictment last year.
“Under the guise of faith-based charity work benefiting orphaned children, Gregory Dow travelled halfway around the world to prey on incredibly vulnerable victims,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams. “His crimes are nearly incomprehensible in their depravity.”
The federal public defenders representing Dow did not immediately return messages seeking comment Thursday.
The Associated Press
