Prairie Grove Man Sentenced For Taking Videos Of Teenager

A Prairie Grove man was sentenced last week to more than 18 years in federal prison for using a hidden cellphone to secretly take videos of an underage girl as she showered.

Christopher Howe, 42, was sentenced to 222 months in prison, to be followed by 15 years of supervised release, and fined $ 20,000 by U. S. District Judge Jimm Hendren. Howe had earlier pleaded guilty to attempting to produce child pornography.

“The defendant in this case has now been brought to justice for his despicable behavior,” U. S. Attorney Conner Eldridge said in a news release. “It is simply inexcusable for someone to victimize a minor in any circumstance, let alone by secretly recording them in this manner.”

According to court records, on March 26 a concerned pa re n t contacted the Tontitown Police Department after finding nude videos of her minor daughter on a cellphone.

The parent showed police a phone belonging to Howe that contained hidden camera recordings of a 16- year- old female taken in the bathroom of the home while she undressed and showered.

The videos showed Howe, on multiple occasions during eight months, set a phone to record and concealed it in the bathroom just before the minor entered to shower.

Howe would retrieve the video afterward and, in some cases, edit the video to short clips of the minor fully nude or in compromising positions.

The case was investigated by the Tontitown Police Department and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Assistant U. S. Attorney Dustin Roberts prosecuted the case.