Parents in the small community of Burke County were absolutely shocked to find out that a local teacher was engaged in sex crimes against young children.
31 year old Michael Lowman was a fourth grade teacher at George Hildebran Elementary School in the small town of Morganton, where investigators believe he may have molested multiple students who were under his care.
Law enforcement say that Lowman admitted to engaging in “ immoral, improper and/or indecent liberties with minor children” according to his own words.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Breaking Morganton- teacher in Burke County is in jail this morning and charged with two counts of 2nd degree sexual exploitation of a minor <a href="https://t.co/GqN7ZUWanv">pic.twitter.com/GqN7ZUWanv</a></p>— Dave Faherty (@FahertyWSOC9) <a href="https://twitter.com/FahertyWSOC9/status/909759639532838912">September 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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According to the arrest warrant, the victims which are currently known include a 14 year old boy and another child younger than 16, who's sex was not identified.
Police say that they were contacted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children who had been investigating underground social networking and dating sites where pedophiles had engaged in trading child pornography, and an IP address traced back to Lowman’s residence.
Upon interrogating Michael Lowman he also admitted to both downloading and uploading child pornography on countless occasions.
Investigators then seized electronic devices such as computers and cell phones which belonged to Lowman, where they found thousands of graphic child pornography images and videos.
"It's a shame. It's a shame. In this small community, you would never dream this would happen and I'm just shocked," mother Marina Collins said.
"It's bad. It is sickening. You just can't trust your kids with their own teachers," father Tyson Bryce said.
Denisa Young has a granddaughter who attended Lowman’s classroom this year, but she said she didn't see any red flags that would have tipped her off.
"He seemed to be a good teacher. The kids at the school loved him. My granddaughter loved to be around him," Young said.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bond hearing set for tomorrow for Burke teacher accused of committing sex crimes against children. My story tonight on channel 9 at 5:30 <a href="https://t.co/C7YiOzfzTu">pic.twitter.com/C7YiOzfzTu</a></p>— Dave Faherty (@FahertyWSOC9) <a href="https://twitter.com/FahertyWSOC9/status/909881116164870144">September 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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During his arraignment Lowman was charged with indecent liberties with a minor and second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor Monday morning.
Lowman is being held under a $250,000.00 secured bond, and will attend a second hearing today (September 19th) to determine if he's eligible for a reduced bond.
He has resigned his position at the school and surrendered his teaching license.
Source:
—<i>[email protected]</i>
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