A United States christian missionary Gregory Dow has pleaded guilty to sex crimes with minor children he committed in Kenya. He has been found guilty of sexual crimes he committed in Kenya and he is set to be sentenced in September.
Gregory Dow, 61, admitted to four counts of sexual assault with minor girls at his Kenyan orphanage which he operated from 2008 to 2017. Dow fled Kenya but was apprehended in the United States by the FBI after receiving tips from Kenyan authorities.
Dow visited Kenya in 2008 and founded an orphanage that was being funded by a number of churches in Lancaster country in the state of Pennsylvania.
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In 2008, Dow founded the orphanage in western Kenya. It was partly funded by churches in Lancaster county in the US state of Pennsylvania, reports local newspaper LNP.
“The defendant purported to be a Christian missionary who cared for these children and asked them to call him ‘Dad’. But instead of being a father figure, he preyed on their youth and vulnerability,” said the US Department of Justice in a statement.
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Realising that Kenyan authorities had been informed about his criminal activities, Dow is reported to have fled Kenya for the United States in 2017.
“Gregory Dow hid behind his supposed faith on the other side of the world, hoping no-one in the US would know or care about the children he abused. He was wrong and he will face his acts on American soil,” US attorney William McSwain said.
The United States enacted a law that allows the justice system to convict criminals who are charged with sexual assault from foreign countries.