Friday, July 06, 2007

Oh the shame

Pepperdine is a conservative Christian university. The campus in Malibu is among the most beautiful in the world. I have a graduate degree from Pepperdine. I spent most of my time 70 miles away at the Orange County Campus (which is not so beautiful). I made a dozen trips to the main Campus. It was an amazing experience each time.

I like follow of what goes on at Pepperdine. I subscribe to the alumni newsletter and have a news filter setup to track their volleyball and basketball programs. While reading Pepperdine news this morning, I was shocked to find The Malibu Times reporting on an alleged pedophile professor at the university.

A former adjunct professor who taught religion at Pepperdine University for nearly 10 years was arrested last week at his Camarillo home for allegedly molesting and sexually assaulting three girls during an eight-year period. The girls were members of the youth ministry program at Camarillo Church of Christ, where the accused, Markus Holland McDowell, served as the youth minister. McDowell was also accused of possessing child pornography on his home computer, according to Ventura County Sheriff's officials.

My first post on McDowell did not mention his involvement with Pepperdine. I checked my records. I think I met McDowell at a conference hosted at the Graziadio Business School. It gives me the creeps. He is charged with:

McDowell, 46, was arrested and booked at the Ventura County pre-trial detention facility last Thursday. He was released the next day after posting a $50,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in Ventura County Superior Court for his arraignment on Friday. The charges McDowell faces, according to the court's Web site, include four counts of "lewd act upon a child," two counts of "lewd act with child," two counts of "oral copulation of a person under 16," two counts of "anal and genital penetration by foreign object" and one count of "possession or control of child pornography."

One of McDowell's friends (or McDowell himself) has been posting snarky comments in the tread of my first post. One of the alleged victims had posted anonymously.  In response, McDowell's friend asked:

Miss Anon, I do not want to in anyway disrespect what you've gone through, I'm just not sure what I believe right now, if at all possible are you able to disclose what it is exactly you say he did to you?

What McDowell is charged with is a matter of public record. Wanting to know the details, for whatever reason, is just plain creepy.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I posted on the last thread and not sure if that person was him or not, still the comments were uncalled for. I honestly after knowing Mark all these years think he is guilty. He always favored the young women in the youth group over men. At times shutting the guys off from coversation.

Austin said...

i had this guy for Religion 101 my freshman year at Pepperdine.
pretty outrageous. i remember liking the guy. this is tough to hear.

Anonymous said...

I wanted you to know that I appreciate your blog. It takes time and energy to post about anything, but it's got to be particularly difficult to post about child molesters. Every time you do, I'm sorry that someone has been hurt somewhere, but I'm glad you (and many others) care enough to expose the perpetrators.

Some of your comments exhort people to "please pray." I for one am glad that you post instead.

Prosecution and publicity work. Prayer does not. For all you prayers out there, I can assure you that those children prayed much harder than you ever could that it would stop. Nine years is a long time to keep a child on hold.

I'm so glad I'm an atheist and don't have to rationalize a god like that any more.

Anonymous said...

I meant to say commentors, not comment.

Mojoey said...

I appreciate the props. I must admit this is a labor of love. The people should not get away with the things they do. The hurt the cause lasts a lifetime.