From a reader:
Here is something you may have missed. Anthony Rowell, a former Church of God member and Ambassador College student was sentenced to 21 years in prison for rape, kidnapping, and sodomy. Another shining example of the COG. What a legacy we have left behind!
Investigators: Man posed as officer before assaulting woman
COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Investigators allege a central Missouri man already facing rape and kidnapping charges posed as a law enforcement officer to force a woman to perform a sex act.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reports 49-year-old Anthony Rowell, of Holts Summit, was arrested Wednesday on warrants for first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sodomy. Bond was set at $500,000.
Missouri State Highway Patrol investigators wrote in charging documents that Rowell posed as a police officer while offering to help a woman whose car stalled in December 2017. The woman told investigators the man said he suspected her of using marijuana and driving drunk but implied he would let her go if she performed the sex act.
Rowell has been in custody since March 2018 on charges in two other assault-related cases.
Rowell’s attorney, Shane Farrow, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
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Former Holts Summit Uber driver faces new sex crime and kidnapping charges
BOONE COUNTY — A former Uber driver, who was previously charged with rape and kidnapping twice, is now facing new sex crime and kidnapping charges.
Anthony Todd Rowell, of Holts Summit, faces charges of 1st degree sodomy or attempted sodomy, along with 1st degree kidnapping for a incident in 2017.
The probable cause statement said a woman ran out of gas in the early hours of December 2, 2017. It stated the woman said Rowell approached her, saying he was a police officer and indicated he could take her to jail for driving while intoxicated and for possessing marijuana. The statement said he implied he would overlook her arrest if she engaged in sexual favors, to which she agreed.
Investigators matched a fingerprint from the victim's car to Rowell. In June of last year, the victim was interviewed and shown a line-up to see if she could identify the man who was responsible for sexually assaulting her. She pointed at the photo of Rowell and said she was "70% sure" Rowell was the man responsible.
His bond has bond has been set at $50,000.
Rowell was involved in two previous incidents regarding attacks on women.
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Holts Summit man pleads guilty to Boone County sex crimes
A Holts Summit man admitted to several sex crimes on Monday that took place over several years.
Anthony Rowell pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree kidnapping and one count each of rape and second-degree sodomy. The crimes happened in 2017 and 2018 during three different incidents throughout Boone County.
Judge Brouck Jacobs sentenced Rowell to seven years on each of the four counts. Two of the four will run consecutively to two others, amounting to a 21-year prison sentence. Rowell will be under lifetime supervision of the sex offender registry once he is released.
Rowell was first arrested in January 2018 after trying to kidnap a woman on Greenwood Avenue in Columbia. Prosecutors charged him two months later with a sexual assault that occurred in 2017. The victim in that sexual assault said she left a Columbia bar with only memory of being held in a van and attacked with a stun gun. A sexual assault kit found DNA evidence that matched Rowell.
Prosecutors then charged Rowell in 2019 with sodomy and impersonating a police officer for a December 2017 incident on Highway 63. Law enforcement claimed a woman ran out of gas when Rowell pulled up behind her claiming to be an officer. The woman said Rowell forced her into giving him oral sex in exchange for help.
Assistant prosecuting attorney Sue Boresi dropped the charges of impersonating an officer in the plea. She said the case had several unique aspects, including the number of victims and the "predatory" pattern of Rowell waiting for women to be alone in order to seize and sexually assault them.
