A Woodward minister, educator and former foster parent has been arrested on three counts of lewd molestation involving a girl under age 13.
Edwin Grant Dowty, a minister at the New Covenant Church of Woodward, was arraigned Monday. Calls to the church Tuesday were not answered. His attorney, Bartlett Bouse, did not immediately return telephone calls.
The crimes were alleged to have occurred between the years 2005 and 2007, according to the affidavit filed in the District Court of Woodward Thursday, June 26, 2008.
The arrest came after a nearly five month investigation by Woodward police, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.
Dowty was released on a $5,000 cash bond.
Bouse said Dowty was a well established resident of the community and did not pose a flight risk.
He went on a mission trip with his church and "he returned knowing that these charges would be filed," Bouse said. "He has fully cooperated."
Dowty's preliminary hearing was set for September 2.
Department of Human Services spokesman George Earl Johnson Jr. said the children that were in foster care in Dowty's home earlier this year were immediately removed when the investigation began.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
