A Florida man wanted in DeSoto County was apprehended in New Bern on Monday by the Craven County Sheriff’s Office.
On Aug. 17, the office’s Criminal Patrol Bureau successfully located 67-year-old Cecil Steven Bowers on Pompano Drive in New Bern. Bowers was wanted by the DeSoto County Sheriff’s Office in Florida on suspicion of lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim between the ages of 12 and 16.
According to the Tampa Bay Times archives, a 1990 article details Bowers’ previous acquittal in 1987 on sexual battery charges and his later arrest in 1990 on one count of sexual battery with a minor. Bowers, who was 31 at the time, was accused of having oral sex and sexual intercourse at his home with a minor when she was 15 and again when she was 16.
Bowers was released from the East Pasco Detention Center in August 1990, the same day he was arrested, after posting bail.
During the incident in 1987, Bowers avoided a life sentence when the jury acquitted him. The charges stemmed from accusations that Bowers sexually assaulted two minors, one under 12 years old, between 1983 and 1986.
Now, 36 years later, Bowers has been charged once more with a similar offense.
According to statutes under the Florida Senate, lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim who is 12 years old or older but younger than 16 is generally a second-degree felony when committed by an adult. The sentencing provisions for a second-degree felony include up to 15 years in prison.
Bowers was taken into custody without incident on a fugitive warrant and is currently being held at the Craven County Detention Center without bond, awaiting extradition to Florida.