A Deming, Washington man was sentenced to 160 months in federal prison for receipt and possession of child sexual abuse material. The sentencing took place in U.S. District Court in Seattle, where Robert J. Howell Jr., 47, faced two felony counts related to the case. Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller announced the sentence.
Howell Jr. came under investigation after law enforcement in a foreign country alerted Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) that an IP address linked to his residence had accessed a website with child sexual abuse content in late 2019. Following this tip, HSI agents traced the account to Howell’s home in Deming.
On September 15, 2020, federal agents executed a search warrant at Howell’s residence and seized more than 75 electronic assets including computers, phones, tablets, hard drives, storage devices, gaming devices, and CDs. Forensic analysis revealed over 90,000 files depicting child sexual abuse on 21 of those devices. Many images involved very young children and included violent depictions.
After a two-day jury trial in April 2025, jurors deliberated for about an hour before finding Howell Jr. guilty of receiving five specific files of child sexual abuse material between 2016 and 2019 and knowingly possessing many more.
U.S District Judge John C. Coughenour imposed the sentence of more than 13 years in prison saying it was driven by the quantity and violent nature of the child sexual abuse material. Judge Coughenour noted Howell Jr. “poses a danger to the community and has a complete lack of contrition.” Howell Jr. will be on twenty years of supervised release following his prison term.
Judge Coughenour also ordered $141,000 in restitution to be paid to the 47 identified victims depicted in the images.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Hampton and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica M. Ly.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, a Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006 that coordinates federal, state, and local efforts to combat online child exploitation and rescue victims through agencies such as United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). More information can be found at www.justice.gov/psc.
