'Highly respected' Alabama evangelist arrested on charges of molesting a teenage boy
Paul Edward Acton Bowen preaching and in his booking photo. (Screenshots)

An Alabama youth pastor has been arrested on charges of molesting a boy who was a family acquaintance, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.


Paul Edward Acton Bowen, 37, lives in Southside, Alabama and was a youth minister. Police had been investigating him for several weeks.

“This is certainly one of the more disturbing cases that we’ve investigated in quite some time,” Hoover police Capt. Gregg Rector told AL.com. “Mr. Bowen is in a highly respected position of influence and he is trusted by many. We believe he betrayed that trust in the worst kind of way.”

Acton Bowen Outreach's website and Facebook have both been taken down already.

Acton Bowen had claimed to be a Fox News contributor on his site but only appears to have made one appearance on a local Fox affiliate, where he spoke up against the reality show All-American Muslim, which he agreed with a host was "propaganda" and did not show the reality of Muslims a "jihadists."

"When I first saw the ads on TLC for American Muslim I was a little bothered," he said. "I guess the thought that occurred to me was that I was shocked TLC would do this."

Watch that clip of the accused child molester below.