An Ohio man was wearing only his underwear when he allegedly sexually touched his stepdaughter during a virtual high school class, police said. He is also a registered sex offender, records show.
A registered sex offender in Ohio who was convicted in 1999 of raping a 9-year-old girl has been arrested for allegedly rubbing his genitals on the head of his teenage stepdaughter, who was attending a high school online class at the time, authorities said.
David Lowe, 52, has been charged with having unwanted sexual contact with the 16-year-old, who is the daughter of his wife, police said. He has pleaded not guilty and was released earlier this month after posting a $50,000 bond, court records.
He has been ordered to wear a GPS tracking device and to have no contact with the alleged victim, Lt. Tom Walker of the Berea Police Department tells Inside Edition Digital.
Walker, who said he has seen the videotaped online class, said Lowe "comes up behind her and he's stepping over her and he rubbed his crotch on her head."
The man was wearing only underwear, police said.
"I don't understand it," Walker says. "It's definitely obscene."
According to court records obtained by Inside Edition Digital, police were informed of the incident by the Ohio Virtual Academy, a public online school for kindergarten through 12th grade students.
The Berea Police Department was called by an instructor at the school late last month, who reported she had been teaching an online social studies class to 40 students when she "witnessed a male (dressed in nothing but underwear) approach one of her students from behind then ... step over her (putting his leg in the air slightly where the child's head is between his legs) while dragging his genital area across the top of the child's head," to the department's incident report.
The teacher said 39 other students "were also made privy to this scene," the report said. "This alone raised concern with" the instructor, who then looked up the student's parents, according to the police report.
The instructor then ran the stepfather's name through a sex offender database and discovered that David Lowe had "been convicted of rape and gross sexual imposition of a 9-year-old female," the police report said.
Lowe was sentenced to seven years in prison in 1999 after his conviction on charges of raping a child and gross sexual imposition in Lorain County, according to online court records. He was released in 2006 and is listed as a sexual predator on Ohio's list of registered sex offenders. He is also on sexual offender lists published by national, state and local authorities including the U.S. Department of Justice and the Ohio Attorney General's Office.
Lowe was arrested on Sept. 28 and charged with one count of sexual imposition, an Ohio statute that encompasses various instances of touching another person with sexual intention.
Lowe posted bond on Oct. 3, according to online court records. His court-appointed attorney, William Coughanour, did not respond to voice mails left by Inside Edition Digital. Prosecutor Megan Matthews declined comment, saying her office does not comment on pending investigations.
The stepfather denied any wrongdoing when speaking with investigators, the police department's Walker said.
Walker says Lowe had no previous interactions with Berea police before his arrest. "We knew he was living in our city." The alleged victim and her family are being interviewed by children's services workers, and an investigation is ongoing, he said.
The mother, the girl, and a 14-year-old boy who is the biological child of Lowe and his wife, are no longer living in the area, Walker said.
The school said in a statement saying it is aware of the alleged incident and has notified parents and offered counseling to any students or staff who need services.
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