East New Market Man Convicted of Sexually Exploiting 4-Year-Old Girl
DORCHESTER COUNTY, Md. – An East New Market man was convicted of several child sex-abuse crimes, involving a small child, following a four-day jury trial last month.
Fourty-three-year-old James Edward Howeth was found guilty of two counts of sexually exploiting a minor, one count of distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), and three counts of possessing CSAM. U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Kelly O. Hayes announced the verdict on Sept. 18.
According to court documents, between Apr. 2021 and Apr. 2022, Howeth produced sexually explicit depictions of the minor female victim, who was aged between four and five years old at the time. Investigators also found that Howeth enticed and coerced the child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing CSAM. In Sept. 2023, Howeth used a cell phone to distribute CSAM, sending a text message to another person with an explicit file attached.
On Mar. 14, 2024, law-enforcement officers executed a search warrant on Howeth’s East New Market home. During the search, law enforcement seized several of Howeth’s electronic devices; including two cellphones, a laptop, and a desktop. A search of the cellphones revealed a text conversation in which Howeth discussed his sexual attraction to the minor victim and other children. The messages also revealed CSAM images of the minor victim that Howeth produced on two separate occasions.
Law enforcement located more than 200 CSAM files on the cellphones, and more than 100 CSAM files on the laptop.
Howeth faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years, and a maximum sentence of 30 years, in federal prison for each count of sexually exploiting a minor. He also faces a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years for distributing CSAM, along with a maximum of 20 years for each count of possessing CSAM. In total, Howeth faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years, and a maximum of 140 years, in federal prison.
