A Deming, Washington man has been sentenced to more than 13 years in federal prison for crimes involving the receipt and possession of child sexual abuse material. Robert J. Howell Jr., 47, was convicted in April 2025 following a two-day jury trial in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The sentencing was announced by Acting U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller.
The investigation began in late 2019 when a foreign law enforcement agency alerted Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) that an IP address at Howell Jr.’s residence had accessed a website containing child sexual abuse material. Federal agents executed a search warrant at his home on September 15, 2020, seizing several dozen electronic devices. Forensic analysis found more than 90,000 files depicting child sexual abuse across 21 devices, with many images involving very young children and extreme violence.
U.S District Judge John C. Coughenour sentenced Howell Jr. to 160 months in prison and ordered him to pay $141,000 in restitution to the 47 victims depicted in the material. Judge Coughenour stated that the sentence reflected “the quantity and violent nature of the child sexual abuse material,” adding that Howell Jr. “poses a danger to the community and has a complete lack of contrition.” After serving his prison term, Howell Jr. will be subject to twenty years of supervised release.
Prosecutors demonstrated that between 2016 and 2019, Howell Jr. received five specific files of child sexual abuse material and knowingly possessed many more files over that period.
In total, law enforcement seized more than 75 electronic assets from Howell’s home—including computers, phones, tablets, hard drives, storage devices, gaming devices, and CDs—which have been forfeited to the government.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and 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 nationwide Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006 aimed at combating child exploitation online by coordinating efforts among federal, state, and local agencies to identify offenders and rescue victims. More information about Project Safe Childhood can be found at www.justice.gov/psc.
