Overview

• John Caleb Cowper, 46, was taken into custody on July 31 and booked on three counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 by force or fear.
• The investigation was reopened after Cowper, jailed in El Dorado County in January on unrelated charges, asked to speak and made a recorded statement about the 1997 allegation.
• Deputies collected DNA and conducted interviews in 1997, and detectives are now re-interviewing witnesses and canvassing as they build the reopened case.
• Investigators say they believe there may be additional victims and are urging tips to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Child Abuse Bureau.
• Cowper remains in the Sacramento County Jail, with local reports listing bail as either $100,000 or $400,000, and FOX40 reports a Sept. 13 court date along with prior unrelated arrests in several counties including Yolo.