EXCLUSIVE: 'I thought he was a protector, not a predator.' Family claims Indiana pastor accused of taking teen girl's virginity on his office floor, was caught shirtless in bed with her when she was just 14

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The married church pastor publicly accused of taking a 16-year-old girl’s virginity on his office floor began grooming her as early as 14, her family have alleged to DailyMail.com.

And victim Bobi Gephart, now 43, was held in a Svengali-like grip by 65-year-old preacher John Lowe II for at least eight years as he had sex with her ‘many, many’ times, they add.

Lowe – forced to quit the large church he built from scratch in Warsaw, Indiana, because of the storm – was so desperate to keep his illicit lust secret that he verbally blackmailed her into staying silent, her mother has claimed in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com.

Pastor John Lowe was found shirtless in bed with Bobi Gephart when she was underage, her brother told DailyMail.com. Bobi was wearing a T-shirt and underwear

Bobi Gephart with her brother Edgar Wolfe. Together they have forced Lowe to leave the church that he built from scratch in Warsaw, Indiana

Lowe and his wife Debra who admits that at 16 she left her home in Upstate New York to work as a stripper

Branded a ‘predator’ by Bobi’s mom Karen Wolfe, the pastor was confronted Sunday on the stage of the packed New Life Christian Church after he confessed to his congregation that he had ‘sinned’ by committing adultery 20 years ago.

He did not name the woman or her age – and received a standing ovation after begging the church’s forgiveness.

But Bobi then stormed towards the stage with husband Nate, 37, grabbed a microphone and said it wasn’t just adultery and it was 27 years ago.

Speaking directly to the pastor – and recorded in a Facebook video clip that went viral – she revealed: 'For 27 years I lived in a prison. It was not 20 years. I lived in a prison of lies and shame… I thought I was a horrible person, having suicidal thoughts…

‘The grooming actually started before Bobi was 16. I know that because Bobi told me,' her mother Karen Wolfe told DailyMail.com

‘I was a prisoner and you kept me in your prison. I’m a prisoner no longer.’

Then she revealed: ‘I was just 16 when you took my virginity on your office floor. Do you remember that? I know you do.

‘You did things to my teenage body that should never have been done. If you can’t admit the truth, you have to answer to God. 

'You are not the victim here.’

Now mom Karen, 69, has told DailyMail.com: ‘The grooming actually started before Bobi was 16. I know that because Bobi told me. We figure somewhere around 14 or 15 years of age, maybe late 14 or early 15.

‘I don’t know how it started. There are things I still don’t know.

‘I think he started a physical relationship before 16, but I can’t be certain. I think it was when she was 15, although I don’t know that for sure.’

Lowe did not respond when DailyMail.com reached out both by phone and email for a comment regarding the family’s new allegations. Wife Debbie also didn’t respond. 

Meanwhile Bobi’s brother Edgar Wolfe, 45, has revealed to DailyMail.com the moment he caught the pastor in bed with his sister – and that she was definitely under the age of consent in Indiana, which is 16.

Distraught Bobi had told the congregation of being seen by her brother in bed with Lowe.

The moment Bobi Gephart, 43, and her husband Nate (center) confronted Pastor John Lowe II on stage at the New Life Christian Church in Indiana on May 21

Bobi and her husband then left the church stage and were comforted by other members of the  congregation 

'Believers are messy. Church is messy. God is not.' The final words on a statement from Lowe's New Life Christian Church and World Outreach announcing that he was stepping down

Edgar told us it was early morning in the Lowes' neat home in Warsaw and the pastor’s former teenage stripper wife Debbie, 64, was away. Then aged 16, he walked into the master bedroom ‘and I discovered him and my sister under covers’.

‘He was shirtless and she was in underwear and a t-shirt,' said Edgar.

‘I looked puzzled so he said, she just came in to say good morning and it was cold. They were in bed under a duvet and his wife was gone. And it was early.

‘I was trying to think it through. In my innocence I believed what he said. And I thought we’re family, he wouldn’t do anything, he’s our pastor and I’ll trust it.

‘Bobi is about 18 months younger than me so she would have been either 14 or 15 at the time. In my young mind I thought, it’s a good thing nobody else saw this or they would call the cops, and they wouldn’t even know that it was innocent.’

Edgar explained the Lowe and Wolfe families were firm friends through the church –and looked after each other’s children during frequent trips away by both couples. The pastor and his wife went on Christian missions abroad and Karen and her late husband Eddie drove a truck.

That’s the reason Bobi, Edgar and their older sister Stacy, now 47, were at the Lowe home that fateful morning the pastor was caught out.

Edgar, now a retired Army intelligence warrant officer, tried to mentally suppress the image for years and didn’t say anything, but said he was often troubled by it.

‘It upset me. So as I got older and started to question these things I realized that I probably should have called the cops. And should have done something,’ he added.

Three weeks ago he realized he needed to act, after a conversation with Stacy who also expressed concerns about Lowe’s behavior towards the then-teenage Bobi.

He confronted the pastor and demanded he quit the church – sparking the ‘confession’ in which Lowe did not tell the whole story.

In an emotional and sometimes tearful exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, mom Karen said she only knew of Bobi’s ordeal three weeks ago when Edgar made his revelation to the family.  

‘My kids worshipped this man Lowe. He was their hero. I looked after their kids, they looked after my kids. We were like family,’ she said.

‘I considered him a protector of my children, not a predator of my children. But that’s exactly how it went.

‘For Bobi, I felt mad for her, I was devastated for her when I found out. There were so many emotions at the beginning, because I’m thinking, can this actually have happened? And I felt betrayed by Lowe.

Bobi Gephart and her husband Nate. They told the congregation that Lowe's church in Warsaw, Indiana, was built 'on lies' 

John Lowe only told his congregation that he had committed adultery, but did not say that it was with a teenage member of his own church

A plaque announcing that John and Debbie Lowe are pastors at New Life was still on the church building a week after they had quit

The large brick church can hold more than 500 congregants. It was started by Lowe in the basement of a house in Warsaw in the 1980s and quickly flourished to its present success

‘I am mad that he did that to my daughter, I’m devastated that she has lived in shame and had to hide this all these years.  

‘I don’t even know how she’s coped with the pain of this. Because she and her husband have continued to go to church there.’

Pausing as she talked in the kitchen of her catering business in Warsaw, Karen then alleged the full extent of Lowe’s previous hold over her daughter.

The pastor made it appear in church that he had committed a one-off ‘sin’ 20 years ago.

But Karen said: ‘Bobi was in a physical relationship with Lowe until she was 22 or 23, roughly when she started dating Nate.

‘It lasted that long because he had her head wound into it. He was a master manipulator.

‘I understand now from other people that he was exerting his influence to try to push away other likely suitors for my daughter. They had calls to stay away.’  

Lowe was also ensuring Bobi’s silence during their relationship by telling her other people would be emotionally hurt if it was revealed, Karen alleged.

‘He totally put the guilt on her,’ she said. ‘He totally manipulated her mind and she’s been devastated. He influenced her with, things like, if anybody ever found out so many people would be hurt.

‘She’s kept this in all these years. She’s felt guilty. She just felt like maybe the sun was never going to shine again. I don’t know how she’s lived with it.’

Bobi Wolfe danced with her father Eddie at her wedding to Nate Gephart. Eddie died two years ago aged 70. 'I’m glad my husband isn’t here to see it because if he wasn’t already dead it would have killed him,' said his widow Karen

Debbie Lowe and her husband, Pastor John Lowe II, both stepped down from the New Life Christian Church in Warsaw after he was confronted on stage by Bobi Gephart, 43

According to her biography on the church's profile, which has since been removed, Debbie only found God after living 'a life contrary to her Christian upbringing'

As well as staying at the Lowes’ home, Bobi traveled on Christian missions with them to Colombia, England, India, Australia and Venezuela, said her mom.

Karen continued: ‘I trusted this man with my kids’ lives. And I always thought he was the protector and it never dawned on me that he would have touched her in that way let alone had sex with her – many, many, many, many times.’

Bobi’s father Eddie died two years ago aged 70 from a heart problem. ‘I’m glad my husband isn’t here to see it because if he wasn’t already dead it would have killed him,’ Karen said.

‘He would have felt so betrayed because he and John Lowe were best friends. His wife Debra was my best friend. I was nanny to their kids sometimes. When the Lowes left town, I moved into their house and would take care of them.

‘And then for a period of time, my husband and I were on the road, the Lowes took care of our kids.

‘I didn’t realize how well they were taken care of,’ she added sardonically.

Karen continued: ‘I had no idea anything was going on. I thought it was like a father and daughter relationship. I thought Lowe loved her like a daughter.

Warsaw calls itself 'The Orthopedic Capital of the World.' DePuy, the first maker of orthopedic appliances was founded there

‘Any physical contact I might have seen never seemed unnatural. We are a very huggy church anyway, I mean very huggy. There were no red flags that went up. Nor to my husband, and he would have said something.’

The mom and grandmother offered an insight into a possible reason why Lowe selected Bobi, although insisted she could not read his mind.

‘She was going through her ugly duckling stage when it started, which she came out of,’ she said. ‘She had no self-esteem when he started preying on her. She didn’t think she was pretty.’

When Bobi began to make her revelation to congregants, there was an attempt by Lowe’s wife to have the microphone’s sound cut and silence her, Karen said.

‘She wasn’t going to say anything, but we learned that Lowe’s confession was not going to be the full story, which is why she went on stage.

‘She was building up courage. She stood there and stared him down. He’s not used to people staring him down.

‘I wasn’t in the church. We joined in 1988 but I’ve cut all ties after what I’ve learned. Looking at Lowe on the platform in that video clip, I’m totally disgusted with the way he stood there and looked at Bobi.  

‘I am disgusted that they tried to cut the microphone. Somebody wanted it cut but the sound system people that day decided this wasn’t the time to obey the Lowes.

‘The one who was in charge of the sound booth just shook his head and said, no. They wouldn’t silence Bobi and her husband. So everybody heard it. When they got done there was no standing ovation there was no applause.’

Retired Army intelligence warrant officer Edgar Wolfe believes criminal charges should be brought against Lowe for grooming his sister Bobi. He is pictured with his wife Patty

'The Lowes took care of our kids – I didn’t realize how well they were taken care of,' Karen Wolfe, seen her with her late husband Eddie and two of their grandchildren, said

Neither Lowe nor his wife responded to repeated emails and phone calls from DailyMail.com asking for comment about the claim he was found in bed with underage Bobi Wolfe

Karen fought back tears as she continued: ‘Her husband Nate is very supportive. I’m ashamed I wasn’t a better protector. That I didn’t know.

‘There were people who say they thought things were too friendly. My pat response was, we were like family. We did Christmas together, we did Sunday meals together for years.

‘When Edgar told me what he had seen, it was like he was telling me a story about somebody that I didn’t know. All the things that came out were about a man that I had no clue about.’

Bobi declined to speak to DailyMail.com but Karen and Edgar spoke with her permission.

Kosciusko County Prosecuting Attorney Office is reported to have begun an investigation into Lowe, but has not revealed any details.

A statement to DailyMail.com read: ‘After reviewing the Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct, Kosciusko County Prosecuting Attorney Daniel Hampton is not permitted to disseminate any information regarding alleged misconduct.’  

Regarding charges, Karen said: ‘These people, I have been so conditioned to protect them, that it’s hard to say I would like him to go to jail,’ said Karen.

'But that would be justice 

‘I believe very strongly in forgiveness. Right now I’m too distraught to forgive him. I can say I forgive him, but I don’t feel it.’

Edgar, who is moving back to Warsaw with wife Patty, 45, from their home in Savannah, Georgia, following his military service, believes there should be criminal charges after listening to his sister’s story.

After deciding three weeks ago to confront what he had seen, he went to Bobi’s house near Warsaw. ‘I confronted her and she told me everything that had happened. And she went into great detail with the relationship,' he said.

‘I texted Lowe and I said “you are done, you will resign, you will make a public confession and you will face criminal charges most likely”.

‘He said, “you’re right, I’m done, do whatever you want. There is no defense for me”.'

But Edgar added: ‘He gave lip service by not following through on Sunday. When he got up there it was half the confession.

‘He had a script, only said he had an affair. Nothing about her being underage or her name. So her husband Nate decided he was going to go and speak out.

‘My sister then joined him as well and together they were strong enough to confront Lowe.’

Of any criminal action, he said: ‘I want him to be broken in his heart in a way that is sincere. When I watched him on the stage I saw defiance and I saw pride and anger that he was caught.

‘I didn’t see remorse for what he had done and taken from sister. There should be criminal charges and he should have to face whatever the court system decides is his fate.’

The Facebook video was shot by Bobi’s niece Maisie Cook, her sister Stacy’s daughter.

The large brick church can hold more than 500 congregants and runs two services every Sunday. It was started by Lowe in the basement of a house in Warsaw in the 1980s and quickly flourished to its present success.

Lowe lives with Debbie in a $640,000 three bedroom single family home, with four bathrooms, at the end of a quiet lane and is surrounded by trees and lawns.

New Life Christian Church and World Outreach said in a statement: ‘In the wake of what has now been revealed, we are hurting and broken for a woman who has lovingly attended and served in the church for many years, as well as for her husband and family.

‘Out brokenness extends to Pastor Lowe, his wife and family as well. For 42 years, New Life has taught and preached a Cross-driven message or repentance, forgiveness and restoration; a ministry of reconciliation which has been both led and modeled by Pastors John and Debbie Lowe.

The church confirmed last week that Lowe had quit.