A man who once worked as a children's entertainer clown in the 1990s and early 2000s has been sentenced to prison for sexually abusing a young girl. Bobbie Arthur Owen, 64, who performed as Boo Boo the clown from 1994 to 2002 in Springfield and Eugene, Oregon, was convicted on 22 counts of child sexual assault.
After his clown career, Owen moved to Citrus Heights in Sacramento County, California, where he began sexually abusing a girl on a regular basis starting when she was just 11 years old, according to the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office. The victim, now an adult woman, reported the crimes to Citrus Heights police in 2024 at age 32, estimating that the abuse occurred hundreds of times.
On March 23, Owen was found guilty of charges including lewd acts on a child, oral copulation, and digital penetration with a foreign object. On May 8, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Deborah Lobre sentenced him to 39 years and four months in prison, the maximum penalty available.
The abuse escalated over time, with the district attorney's office noting that it included oral copulation of Owen and attempted sexual intercourse when the victim was 15 years old. The abuse continued until she was 18, with periodic pauses when Owen moved out of state for work, according to court records reviewed by the Sacramento Bee.
Owen was arrested in Meridian, Idaho, where he had been living since 2008. A Citrus Heights detective confronted him at his home in November 2024, and Owen admitted to molesting the girl for years, discussing recent phone calls about the abuse. Boise police arrested him on a fugitive warrant, and he was extradited to the Sacramento County Jail in February 2025.
Owen was held without bond until his conviction and sentencing. He will now be transferred to state prison, where he is likely to remain for the rest of his life unless he lives to 103. The abuse began after Owen stopped working as a clown; his LinkedIn profile indicates he worked as a contractor at the time, later as a truck driver and insurance sales agent. The jury convicted him on all 22 felony counts after a three-day trial.
