‘DEMONIC’ ASSAULT
WOMAN GETS 20-40 YEARS FOR BRUTAL HOME INVASION
MEDIA COURTHOUSE » A 27-year-old Philadelphia woman who masterminded a botched robbery from her 75-year-old employer and paramour, then caused permanent physical damage to his daughter with a vicious beating, has been sentenced to 20 to 40 years in a state prison.
“The court considers to be almost demonic in nature the type of crime, the assault, that occurred in this case,” said Delaware County Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony Scanlon in handing down the sentence Tuesday.
Erinn Howarth was convicted in April on charges of robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, conspiracy to burglary and firearms not to be carried without a license for the 2016 home invasion that sent one victim to the hospital for more than a week.
Co-defendant Richard Samuel Johnson, 25, also of Philadelphia, was previously sentenced to six to 23 months at the county prison with five years of probation after entering an open guilty to charges of conspiracy to burglary, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault in the Aug. 23 home invasion.
Johnson, who also pleaded to possessing an instrument of crime and firearms not to be carried without a license, testified against Howarth at trial. He said the two planned to rob the victim, but did not expect to encounter anyone at the home on East 25th Street in Chester that day.
Upon their arrival, Howarth was met by two of the victim’s adult daughters. The victim had returned home after a lengthy hospital stay that day and they were helping him to get set up.
One of the daughters said Howarth explained she was looking for her pink bikini. The daughter retrieved the bikini and gave it to Howarth, who put it into a backpack before departing.
The homeowner testified at trial that he had begun a romantic relationship with Howarth about a year before his wife died in February 2016. He said he hired Howarth to clean apartments and houses he owned, as well as his own home, and had set her up to live rent-free in one of those homes.
Johnson said he and Howarth drove to a Dunkin Donuts and returned to the house later. Seeing the daughter’s cars were gone, he entered the house through a kitchen window and let Howarth in through a door. Both defendants were wearing masks and gloves.
The two then went into the basement and fixed themselves a few drinks from a bar before heading to the second floor, where Johnson said he encountered the male victim.
“I was standing at the sink and a gentleman came in and stuck a gun to my head,” the victim said. “He said, ‘Tell me the combination to the safe or I’ll shoot you.’ I knew it, but I wouldn’t give it to him. I told him I didn’t have it, my daughter had it.”
Johnson said he took the man to a bedroom where he bound his hands. Johnson then attempted to move a safe from a hall closet, but had difficulty due to its weight.
At one point while working on the safe, Johnson said another of the victim’s daughters who lived with him came home and discovered the intruders. Johnson said he had her lie down and bound her as well, but Howarth, convinced the woman had seen her face and would recognize her, struck the woman several times in the head with the gun.
Howarth also kicked the unconscious, bleeding woman and discussed shooting her through a pillow, according to Johnson.
The homeowner said he could hear what sounded like three or four people moving about his house and attempting to open the safe. When it became quiet, the man said he untied himself somewhat and left the bedroom, thinking the robbers had left. That was when he saw his daughter.
“I thought she was dead,” he said. “She was all tied up. I started untying … the cords around her neck and hands and feet.”
The victim said he could tell his daughter was breathing, but he was soon set upon by another female robber also holding a gun. The woman, also wearing a mask and gloves, did not speak as she bound him again, he said.
Johnson said he was able to get the safe out of the house and to his car using a wheelbarrow, leaving Howarth alone in the house for about 10 or 15 minutes.
Johnson said Howarth came out of the house and helped him get the safe into the car. The two left the scene, but he had forgotten the backpack in a bedroom.
The victim was again able to free himself some time later. He could not locate a phone, so he crawled outside and told a neighbor to call the police.
Police got the call at around 8:17 p.m. The man was sitting outside when officers arrived and immediately requested medical attention for his daughter, who was transported to a hospital in critical but stable condition.
The female victim said she had no recollection of the events. She testified that she lived with her father and had come home that night around 5 p.m. to find the front door locked. After angrily texting her sister about the locked door, she said she went to the back door. She only remembered getting up the back steps.
The woman said she suffered a head trauma that required 14 stitches, as well as damage to her legs where she was bound. Her father said he had not suffered any injuries. They were both taken to a hospital, where the woman said she remained for nine days.
One of the victim’s daughters returned to the home later that night to retrieve some clothing for her father and discovered the backpack, which still contained the pink bikini Howarth had retrieved just hours earlier. Police were able to recover the safe intact when they arrested Johnson and Howarth the next day.
Assistant District Attorney Gina Gorbey asked Judge Scanlon to impose aggravated sentences on the aggravated assault
and robbery charges, and to run all of the sentences consecutively.
The female victim did not address the judge Tuesday, but Delaware County Detective Anthony Ruggieri said he and other investigators in the case had promised her justice.
“This has probably been one of the most horrific crimes that I’ve ever investigated,” Ruggieri said, noting he had been in law enforcement for more than 30 years. “Several words come to mind in describing Miss Howarth. First and foremost is ‘evil, callous, cold-hearted.’”
Ruggieri said the victim likely came very close to being killed that day and will suffer from medical conditions as a result of the attack for the rest of her life.
Defense attorney Michael Malloy argued that Howarth has a “sordid history” that includes sexual victimization as a foster child, living on the streets of Philadelphia as a young teenager and drug use. She is currently being prescribed medication used to treat depression and schizophrenia, he said.
While Howarth did not speak Tuesday, Malloy said she is “sorry for the whole mess that she’s gotten herself into and the problems that she’s caused everybody in this matter.”
Judge Scanlon said that while Johnson promptly accepted responsibility, Howarth has yet to do the same. He noted the female victim did nothing that day but come home from work and will now have to suffer permanent disabilities for the rest of her life.
“There can probably be nothing more frightening or personally abhorrent than somebody invading somebody’s home,” he said. “All she did was open the door coming home from work and she was smashed in her face and head by some type of criminal object, only to wake up later in the ICU … with blood on her face and a breathing tube and mask inserted down her throat for her to stay alive.”