DALLAS, N.C. -- A Dallas man facing 11 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor after police say he left his 11 young children home alone spoke only with Eyewitness News. He didn’t deny the charges, but defended himself and said his past is much worse than what he’s accused of now.

On Thursday, Johnny Marlowe often talked about what he called the evil in the world, and in his mind that included television.

“Look at the state our country is in. We got to wake up man. We are going downhill,” he said.

Then, without flinching, he admitted to Eyewitness News the crime that landed him in jail.

“Did you actually leave the children home by themselves?” asked reporter Ken Lemon.

“Oh yea!” he said.

“Why did you do that?” Lemon asked.

“My children have been trained to take care of themselves,” he explained.

Marlowe said his older children, the oldest age 11, know how to care for the younger. He said he never left them in home alone for more than half a day.

But police said on July 1 he and one of the two women he calls his wife took a trip to Myrtle Beach and left them alone, and when a burglar broke in, the children ran and hid in the woods until their parents returned.

Marlowe said leaving them alone helped teach them to be independent.

“Treat them like they can't do anything then what we will have is 25- and 30-year-olds sitting at home playing video games like the guys in here,” he said.

Marlowe seemed to regret doing that, but he said he doesn't regret keeping two women to mother his children. He said God wants men to have multiple wives.

“If you have one-on-one, what we are doing is thumbing our noses at God and saying you are equal with him,” he said.

Marlowe said when he was young, he was a criminal constantly in trouble. He said it's strange that he would be charged for refusing to send the children to public school or properly home school them, which led to four of his charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

“Those charges right there, I will take any day,” he said.

Marlowe is being held on $500,000 bond.

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