Jefferson City man charged with child sex crimes

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

A Jefferson City man was charged on Thursday with several child sex crimes.

Gary Owens, 58, was charged with two counts of first-degree child molestation, first-degree sodomy, first-degree endangering the welfare of a child and incest. He is being held at the Cole County Jail without bond.

On Sunday, the victim and their parents reported Owens to Jefferson City police and a forensic interview with the victim was conducted Thursday at Rainbow House in Columbia, according to the probable cause statement. The probable cause statement says the victim is younger than 14 years old and that they had told the interviewer that they had been sexually assaulted for about four or five years.

Owens was interviewed by law enforcement on Sunday and allegedly denied the allegations, but eventually confessed, the statement says. Owens allegedly told law enforcement “he had only done this once,” but “contemplated doing this before,” before describing other assaults, according to the probable cause statement.