A Michigan man police say sexually assaulted two school-aged brothers, including one who was given a pacifier to muffle his screams, has entered guilty pleas to several felony charges that could put him in prison for life.
Tyler Lowis, 23, admitted to abusing the boys in a mobile home community off of Schultz Street NW in Sparta. He met the boys two years ago when they were about 13 and 11 years old.
Lowis dressed one of the boys in a diaper and gave him a pacifier to muffle his cries during the sexual assaults, court records show.
Lowis called himself “daddy’’ and referred to his victim as “baby boy,’’ who at times was dressed in a diaper and given a pacifier during sexual assaults that played out over a two-year period, according to court records.
Lowis entered guilty pleas this week to four charges, including two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which is punishable by up to life in prison. In exchange, five other charges were dismissed.
Lowis will be back in court for sentencing next month. Under a plea agreement, the Kent County Prosecutor's Office will not pursue additional criminal sexual conduct charges and will recommend the sentences on each of the felony charges run concurrent.
The investigation got underway in August, 2016 when Michigan State Police received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a person who was accumulating child pornography through Dropbox Inc., a computer file hosting service that offers secure online file sharing and storage.
Many of the images were of young boys, including toddlers and infants, engaged in sexual acts with adults, court records show.
Lowis recorded several of the sexual assaults on a personal tablet device which was on the nightstand of his bedroom, court records show.
A search of Lowis’ tablet showed three videos of the sexual assaults and “multiple images of (the victim) wearing only a diaper and having a pacifier in his mouth,’’ according to court records.
In one of the videos, the boy is seen lying naked in bed with a blue and orange pacifier in his mouth. As Lowis rapes the boy, he calls the child “baby boy’’ several times and refers to himself as “daddy,’’ court records show. In another video, the victim is shown only in a diaper with a pacifier in his mouth.
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