A Lubbock special prosecutor filed 11 criminal charges against Stanley Marsh 3 on Wednesday, alleging the Amarillo millionaire performed oral sex on a teenage boy in 2010 and hired another teen to masturbate for him, court records show. 
 
 According to the criminal complaints, the 74-year-old is charged with six counts of child sexual abuse and five counts of sexual performance by a child, second-degree felonies punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 on each count. 
 
 Marsh 3 was released from Potter County Detention Center about 7 p.m. Wednesday on three $100,000 bonds, said Kelly Utsinger, who is representing Marsh 3 in six civil lawsuits filed against him. 
 
 Paul Nugent, one of Marsh 3’s two Houston criminal defense attorneys, pushed Marsh 3 out of the county jail in a wheelchair after he posted bond. 
 
 The criminal counts filed against Marsh 3 by Lubbock County Criminal District Attorney Matthew D. Powell list two unnamed child victims. 
 
 Marsh’s criminal defense team said Wednesday that Marsh 3 is not guilty of the charges against him. 
 
 In a statement, attorneys Nugent and Heather Peterson said “there should be no rush to judgment” in the case and questioned the motives of Marsh 3’s accusers. 
 
 They also said Marsh 3 will “fight as vigorously as his declining health permits.” “The criminal charges against Stanley Marsh 3 are mere allegations by the group of accusers who have filed a barrage of civil lawsuits against Marsh seeking millions of dollars. 
 
 Instead of immediately reporting any alleged wrongdoing to the police, the group strategized, conferred and waited,” the statement said. 
 
 “After Stanley Marsh 3 suffered a massive stroke and became legally incapacitated, the group implemented their plan to become multimillionaires by signing contracts with an aggressive personal injury lawyer from Houston,” the statement said. “The investigation into the group’s claims is far from complete.0 
 
 There should be no premature rush to judgment. Stanley Marsh 3 is not guilty of the group’s allegations, and will fight as vigorously as his declining health permits.” 
 
 Anthony Buzbee, a Houston attorney who has filed six civil suits against Marsh 3 that allege the Amarillo millionaire paid 10 teen boys to perform sex acts, said Wednesday he had faith authorities would pursue criminal charges against Marsh 3. 
 
 “It’s a positive sign. I’ve said all along I had faith in the DA (district attorney) and the police,” he said. “It’s obvious that the civil suits were a catalyst.” 
 
 Amarillo police searched Marsh 3’s Chase Tower offices on Nov. 7 and retrieved evidence, police said. 
 
 “The search warrant revealed evidence that police believe further corroborates the accounts of sexual exploitation of minors,” the department said in a news release. 
 
 The investigation, police said, led to the names of other potential witnesses and other potential victims, many of whom no longer live in Amarillo. 
 
 Amarillo police have interviewed several possible victims in the case, authorities said. Amarillo police said Wednesday they received a report on July 16 “of possible child sexual exploitation that had occurred at an office on the 12th floor of the building at 600 S. Tyler. “The abuse was reported to have occurred over a period of time during 2010 and 2011,” the release said. “Police detectives began an investigation and learned that the reported victim was currently living away from Amarillo.” 
 
 The charges could go before a grand jury in the next few weeks or soon after the first of the year, Powell said. 
 
 Last week, Marsh 3’s wife, Wendy O’Brien Marsh, and two of Marsh 3’s companies asked a court to rule Buzbee be dismissed and to rule Marsh 3 should not be included as a defendant in multiple civil lawsuits because he is incapacitated. 
 
 On Nov. 14, Potter County Court at Law Judge W.F. “Corky” Roberts determined in a separate legal proceeding that Marsh 3 was incapacitated after suffering a series of strokes and other medical problems. 
 
 Marsh 3’s wife filed a legal answer to a second sex abuse lawsuit filed against Marsh 3 by John Doe 3 and John Doe 4. 
 
 The answer, filed on Marsh 3’s behalf, denies the suit’s claims and seeks a jury trial. At least two other defendants named in the civil lawsuits, Amarillo Protective Services LLC and McCartt & Associates, have filed legal answers, denying claims in the civil lawsuits. 
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

 Stanley Marsh 3, the eccentric millionaire artist best known for his "Cadillac Ranch" art display along an interstate in the Texas Panhandle, was charged Wednesday with 11 felony counts of molesting children. 
 
 The 74-year-old turned himself in at a county jail after an arrest warrant was issued, accusing him of molesting two teenagers in 2010. His arrest follows the filing of several lawsuits against him for allegedly paying 10 teens for sex acts. 
 
 The charges could go before a grand jury in the next few weeks or soon after the first of the year, special prosecutor Matt Powell said. 
 
 "This is the beginning of the process," Powell said. "This is what we felt like we needed to do." 
 
 According to criminal complaints filed in Potter County, Marsh had the teens engage in sexual acts, including masturbation and oral sex, on three days in 2010. He was charged with six counts of child sexual assault and five counts of sexual performance by a child. 
 
 Marsh's criminal attorneys, Paul Nugent and Heather Peterson of Houston, denied the charges, saying in a statement that the teens in the civil cases waited until Marsh suffered a massive stroke last year to move forward with a plan "to become multimillionaires" by signing with a Houston personal injury attorney. 
 
 "The investigation into the group's claims is far from complete," the attorneys wrote in their statement. "There should be no premature rush to judgment. Stanley Marsh 3 is not guilty of the group's allegations, and will fight as vigorously as his declining health permits." 
 
 The six lawsuits claim Marsh paid the boys, ages 15 and 16, for sexual acts. One claimed that Marsh provided him drugs and alcohol, bought him two cars, and paid him at several points during a year in sums of as much as $10,000. 
 
 Marsh's civil attorney, Kelly Utsinger, has denied those allegations. He did not immediately return a call seeking comment on Wednesday's criminal complaints. 
 
 The teens' Houston-based civil attorney, Anthony Buzbee, said two of the teens went to police in late summer before the lawsuits were filed, but two others didn't speak with investigators until early November _ about the time Marsh's offices were searched. One teen's mother sought out a civil attorney when she didn't hear back from police, according to the lawsuits. 
 
 Marsh is probably best known for planting 10 brightly painted Cadillacs nose down along Interstate 40 in the Panhandle in the 1970s. The cars, ranging from a 1948 club coupe to a 1963 sedan and gathered from junkyards, private collectors and used car lots, have since become a pop art landmark. 
 
 Visitors through the years have splattered them with graffiti and in 2005 they were coated in pink to honor breast cancer victims, survivors and their families. Marsh also has painted them black and yellow to honor the passing of longtime friends. 
 
 An Amarillo native and philanthropist, Marsh and his wife have donated to local art and education causes. After he suffered the massive stroke and a series of smaller ones, his wife was appointed his guardian. 
 
 Marsh was indicted on charges of indecency with a child in 1996, but the charges were eventually dismissed. That same year Marsh acknowledged no wrongdoing in a settlement with a youth who claimed Marsh sexually abused him. 
 
 In 2001, parties in four lawsuits that alleged imprisonment, sexual misconduct and harassment of teens were settled. Marsh apologized but no other details were made public.
– Texas millionaire and eccentric artist Stanley Marsh 3 has been charged with 11 felony counts of child molestation. Police sought the 74-year-old, whose claim to fame is his "Cadillac Ranch" display along a Texas interstate, following a series of lawsuits saying he paid 10 teens to perform sex acts. Marsh turned himself in after a warrant accused him of molesting two teen boys over three days in 2010, the AP reports. A grand jury could hear the charges within weeks. "This is the beginning of the process," says a prosecutor. Attorneys for Marsh said his accusers are taking advantage of a major stroke Marsh suffered last year, aiming "to become multimillionaires" with the help of personal injury lawyers. "Stanley Marsh 3 is not guilty of the group's allegations, and will fight as vigorously as his declining health permits," his lawyers said. Marsh is currently out on three $100,000 bonds, a lawyer tells the Amarillo Globe-News. He faces six counts of child sex abuse and five of sexual performance by a child; the charges could put him in prison for up to 20 years, with $10,000 fines on each count.