US Missionary Worker Pleads Guilty to Sex Crimes in Kenyan Orphanage

Gregory Dow, a 61-year-old US missionary from Pennsylvania, has pleaded guilty to four counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a minor, between 2013 and 2017.

Dow moved to West Kenyan town Boito in 2008 to build and run the Dow Family Children's Home. To build the home, The Lancaster, PA native received partial funding from local churches and supporters. After having caught wind of the accusations, Dow fled Kenya in 2017 and returned to the US.

Prosecutors stated that Dow's victims ranged between the ages of 11 to 13 years old, and that, " [Dow] purported to be a Christian missionary who would care for these orphans. They called him 'Dad.' But, instead of being a father figure for them, he preyed on their youth and vulnerability."

It has also been revealed by the U.S. attorney's office that in 1996 Dow pleaded guilty to assault to commit sexual abuse in the US state of Iowa. At the time, he received two years' probation and was ordered to register as a sex offender for a decade.

On the matter, US attorney William McSwain went on to say, "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."