DICKINSON – A 28-year-old Dickinson man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for receipt and possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Jennifer B. Lowery announced on Wednesday.
Richard Blake Howard pleaded guilty on Feb. 16.
Recommended Videos
At the hearing, the court heard additional information that Howard was not deterred even after law enforcement executed a search warrant at his residence in March 2019, seized his electronic devices and arrested him on an unrelated state warrant.
The court then heard how Howard continued to receive, distribute and view child pornography using his Xbox until law enforcement executed a second search warrant in February 2021.
Officials also said Howard had a collection of children’s panties that he stole from young kids he babysat.
In December 2018, authorities began an investigation after receiving a cyber tip from a cloud storage company. They determined Howard’s location based on the IP address he used to receive and distribute child pornography to several storage accounts.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Howard’s residence and seized laptop computers and cell phones. A search of his electronic devices revealed he received and distributed child pornography via his cloud storage accounts. Further investigation showed he received images from a particular website that is known by authorities to be a platform for child pornography.
Howard possessed approximately 973 images of prepubescent minors, bondage and bestiality involving minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. He also had 1,203 videos with some over five minutes in length.
On top of the sentence, Howard will be ordered to pay restitution to the victims in an amount to be determined later and will serve 15 years on supervised release following the completion of his prison term. During that time, he will have to comply with numerous requirements designed to restrict his access to children and the internet. Howard will also be ordered to register as a sex offender.
Howard has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S Bureau of Prisons facility in the near future.