Quirky Texas Millionaire a 'Serial Abuser' of Boys: Suit

Stanley Marsh 3, of Amarillo, Texas, is known for his eccentricities: putting up street signs bearing phrases like "Road Does Not End," opting to have a "3" in his name rather than the Roman numeral, and creating an art installation of 10 colorful Cadillacs buried nose-first in the dirt along Interstate 40. But the heir to an oil fortune now finds himself at the center of a scandal, accused of being a "serial abuser" of boys. In a series of suits, eight teens have accused the 74-year-old of plying them with cars, booze, and cash in exchanged for sexual favors when they were 15, 16, and 17, reports the New York Times.

Marsh suffered a series of strokes last year, and is now under the guardianship of his wife, who has been named in the suits as being aware of the abuse, and possibly even facilitating it. Others, including Marsh's business partner, face similar accusations. This isn't the first time that Marsh has been accused of inappropriate conduct with teens. He was accused in the '90s of locking an 18-year-old boy who pilfered one of his signs in a chicken coop, and of molesting a 16-year-old. But Marsh's former lawyer called him "brilliant, highly educated, very intelligent," adding that "because he’s unusual, some people get the wrong idea about him." (More Stanley Marsh 3 stories.)