In publicly posted Facebook comments from 2019, Knoxville City Council candidate Robert Bentley Marlow has called the homeless "rabid animals" and encouraged euthanasia to solve the homelessness problem.
Marlow is a property owner and a candidate for at large seat B in Knoxville's City Council election, running against Debbie Helsley.
"I was just trying to use hyperbolic inflammatory language to get attention," Marlow said. "I run a nonprofit that caters to the homeless."
Marlow said his nonprofit takes people who are homeless, gives them a place to stay and trains them in trades to help Marlow build and renovate homes across Knoxville.
Federal tax filings show, in 2021, the charity brought in $48,631.
"There's usually somewhere between $15 to $20,000 in cash that I'll put in," Marlow said. "The rest is in-kind. My accountant captures the value of the rentals."
Marlow said he offers his vacant rental properties to people who don't have homes and who are part of his charity. Filings showed Marlow paid himself $13,137 in 2021, or about 27% of the money raised by the charity.
"My accountant says I have to pay myself a minimum wage," Marlow said. "I do all of this and I make minimum wage."
A graduate of law school who passed the bar exam on his second try, Marlow was not granted a law license in Tennessee, because he "did not pass the character and fitness criteria to become an attorney."
More than a decade ago, the Tennessee Board of Law Examiners rejected his application because Marlow had 16 traffic offenses and a public intoxication citation.
"These matters cause the board concern about Mr. Marlow's willingness to adhere to the laws of the State of Tennessee," the board wrote. The Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed the board's decision.
During the board's investigation, Marlow was arrested for public intoxication in the Fort Sanders neighborhood. In April 2010, Knoxville Police said Marlow was the passenger in a car during a traffic stop. Officers conducted a field sobriety test on the driver, but Marlow was shouting out of the window and opening his door, court records show.
KPD officers told Marlow to stop, but he didn't cooperate, the police report said. Officers arrested Marlow.
"As soon as the court saw the video, they dismissed it. They expunged it," Marlow said.
The City Council candidate said his difficulty getting a law license taught him the plight of people who live on the streets.
"When I was in bankruptcy, I was on SNAP and food stamps. Only because the house I lived in was financed by my family, and I didn't have to make a mortgage payment, and my dad didn't evict me, that's the only reason I wasn't homeless," Marlow said. "I've got a great deal of sympathy for it."
Court records filed with the Eastern District of Tennessee show Marlow told the Bankruptcy Court he couldn't pay nearly $260,000 of debt, most of it student loan debt.
"Marlow made minimal payments to Sallie Mae, Inc. He did not make payments on the other loans," a judge's order said.
The court rejected Marlow's request to discharge the combination student loan and credit card debt.
"The bankruptcy court found Marlow's pursuit of employment to be limited at best," a judge wrote.
Marlow said he resolved the bankruptcy matter more than 10 years ago. Now, he's a real-estate developer in Knoxville.