DALLAS, N.C. — Investigators say a man has been charged with child abuse in Caldwell County for circumcising his two infant sons with a utility knife.
Authorities said 32-year-old Johnny Eric Marlowe, a self-admitted polygamist, fathered children with his legal wife and another woman who lives in their home.
One gave birth to a boy at their home in the rural Kings Creek community in November 2005, and the other gave birth to a boy there four months later.
“We’ve picked up some more info, which will help us lead further into our investigation, (information) that we didn’t know before,” said Caldwell County Sheriff Alan Jones.
Detective Shelly Hartley said Marlowe doesn’t like hospitals and denied the women prenatal care in both cases, then circumcised the boys when they were 8 days old.
Marlowe later moved to Gaston County and is serving a 150-day jail sentence there on charges of resisting a public officer, assault on a female and multiple counts of child neglect.
Marlowe had a total of 11 children with the two women.
“Sick, he’s got a sick mind,” a former neighbor said. “Anybody that would do that to their children — there’s something really wrong with them.”