Convicted rapist trades money, liquor and drugs for sexual contact with teen, feds say
A convicted rapist accused of soliciting sex and child pornography from teen girls has pleaded guilty in Missouri, authorities said.
Thomas J. Bowles, 47, pleaded guilty on Monday, Nov. 13, to “one count of sex trafficking of a child, two counts of coercion and enticement of a minor, one count of production of child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
The St. Charles County man’s jury trial was supposed to start the same day, court records show. Bowles’ defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Nov. 14.
In his signed plea agreement, Bowles said he “repeatedly contacted” a 16-year-old girl online from Jan. 1, 2020, to Aug. 20, 2020. He said he used several social media platforms and he used aliases, including the name “Stacie.”
These aliases prevented the teenager from learning she was actually talking to a registered sex offender, authorities said.
Bowles told the girl he wanted to become her “sugar daddy,” and he offered her money, clothes and a phone in exchange for sexual activity and pornographic photos and videos of herself, according to the plea agreement.
At some point, authorities said the girl sent him a video file considered child pornography. Investigators found the video on an Apple iPod Nano, according to court records.
Bowles also used Snapchat to talk with a 17-year-old girl, according to his plea.
While using an alias, he told the girl “he wanted to mentor her in the modeling industry because she was ‘beautiful,’” prosecutors said. He also told her he was her “sugar daddy,” according to court records.
In 2020, he and the 17-year-old girl met multiple times, authorities said.
He traded cash, liquor, clothes and prescription drugs for sexual contact with the girl, according to court records.
During two of their meetups, authorities said he engaged in sexual activity with the girl and took video recordings.
Bowles knew the girls were minors, authorities said.
In 2002, Bowles pleaded guilty to 12 counts of felony statutory rape and five counts of felony statutory sodomy in the Circuit Court for St. Louis County, authorities said. With this conviction, he was ordered to register as a sex offender.
“In January through August of 2020, (Bowles) did not have his online identifiers, email addresses, social media accounts registered as is required under the sex offender registration laws,” authorities said.
Prosecutors are requesting Bowles be sentenced to 40 years in prison, according to the news release. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 13.
St. Charles County is part of the St. Louis area.
This story was originally published November 14, 2023 at 8:49 AM with the headline "Convicted rapist trades money, liquor and drugs for sexual contact with teen, feds say."