Billy Rowe
A former Fort Smith police
officer was sentenced Monday to five years in prison on five counts of sexual
assault. Prosecuting Attorney Dan Shue said Billy W. Rowe Jr., 32, of Bonanza
was sentenced to five years in the Arkansas Department of Correction with an
additional suspension of 15 years on each count. Rowe faced five to 20 years on
each count. Shue said Rowe also paid $2,500 in restitution for future
counseling for the victim. Rowe was charged under a section of the
sexual-assault statute that makes it unlawful for someone who is a mandated
reporter and in a position of trust or authority to engage in sexual
intercourse or deviate sexual activity with a minor, according to a report.
Fort Smith Police Chief Kevin Lindsey ordered an investigation into Rowe on
Sept. 11, after the department received multiple anonymous calls reporting Rowe
had a relationship with a minor female. The girl said she met Rowe through
church about a year previously, and they became close at church camp where Rowe
was “somewhat of a youth leader.” They started communicating on Facebook, and
they ended up exchanging text messages daily after he gave her his cell phone
number, according to a police report. A Sebastian County Sheriff’s Office
report alleges their first sexual encounter occurred when the girl went on a
ride-along with Rowe. They stopped at her house where no one else was home and
engaged in oral sex, according to the report. They subsequently had sexual
intercourse three times at a pond near Bonanza and once at Rowe’s Bonanza home,
and they exchanged nude pictures of themselves via cellphone before the
relationship ended prior to the school year, according to a police report. Rowe
told investigators, “I can’t answer any questions like that” when asked if he
had sex with the girl. But he did say he did “bad things,” according to a
police report. Rowe resigned from the police department shortly before he was
arrested Sept. 17. After his arrest, investigators with the police department
and sheriff’s office spoke with Rowe’s father, Billy Rowe Sr., his brother,
Shane Rowe, and his pastor, who confirmed Rowe told them he had sex with the
girl twice, according to police and sheriff’s office reports. Rowe began
serving his sentence Monday, and was placed into custody at the Sebastian
County Adult Detention Center to await transfer to the state, Shue said.
