GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A convicted sex offender with an admitted attraction to young girls is facing child pornography charges that could put him in federal prison for up to 20 years.
Robert Russell Howard, 57, was indicted on charges of receipt and possession of child pornography.
“Howard admitted to having an addiction to viewing images of young girls,’’ a federal agent wrote. “Howard admitted to downloading and placing child pornography on his cell phone as well as having an addiction problem with these types of images.’’
Howard was arrested Jan. 8 after police searched his home on Holland Road in the village of Sheridan and seized several electronic devices. A criminal complaint was filed that day; the two-count indictment came this week.
If convicted, Howard faces between 5 and 20 years in prison. The Montcalm County man has a 2012 conviction in northern Michigan for possession of child porn.
A few days after his arrest, a federal judge approved a psychological evaluation for Howard, who told police he was contemplating suicide.
He was sent to the state of Washington on Feb. 28 to have the evaluation. However, a state of emergency declared there due to the COVID-19 outbreak has delayed completion of the evaluation, court records show.
Howard came under scrutiny during an August, 2019 investigation into an IP address which shared child pornography files. A detective in Pennsylvania downloaded 200 images, which were traced to Howard’s address in Sheridan, court records show.
An FBI task force officer in Michigan viewed the 200 images, “and found all images depicted the same white female, approximately 10 years of age, posed in various states of undress, and fully nude,’’ court records show. “Approximately half of the images clearly display a focus on the child’s genitalia.’’
That led police to Howard’s home in early January, where he was arrested and his electronic devices seized.
Howard’s cellular phone contained hundreds of modeling-style photos, which included girls who appeared to be between the ages of 10 and 14. Some of the photos depict the girls in various stages of undress as well as fully nude, court records show.
“Howard admitted to having an addiction to viewing images of young girls,’’ FBI Task Force Officer Wayne Dillon wrote in a criminal complaint.
Howard admitted to downloading images and videos of nude teenage girls, saying “he was looking for images of girls between the ages of 12-16,’’ Dillon wrote in the criminal complaint.
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