An Arlington, Virginia, man was sentenced to more than 18 years in prison for coercion of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity and attempting to destroy evidence on his computer by urinating on it during a nine-hour standoff.
For two years, from 2023 to 2025, Stephen Chadwick Howell, 25, had sexually explicit conversations with at least three victims who were minors, according to a Department of Justice news release.
He was sentenced for coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in illegal sexual activity, and destruction or removal of property to prevent search or seizure.
Howell misrepresented his age and sent explicit images of himself, according to the release. He also met with at least one minor victim who he “engaged in sex and produced sexually explicit images and videos of the victim, which he later distributed to her,” the DOJ said.
In addition, the DOJ said Howell sent money to a 16-year-old victim who sent sexually explicit images of herself that were later found on Howell’s cellphone.
Howell also talked with a person living in New York from January of 2023 to January of 2024 about the sexually explicit images of minors and distributed the images to that person as well as instructions on “grooming minors” and how to trick victims online, the release said.
Howell also asked that person for help with rebuilding his collection of sexually explicit material involving minors after he said he deleted it.
The search of Howell’s home for materials happened on May 7, 2025, when the FBI executed a warrant and Howell did not exit the residence when asked and instead took two knives from the kitchen and barricaded himself in his bedroom for nine hours.
During that standoff, the DOJ release said that Howell “urinated on his laptop in an attempt to prevent the FBI from accessing its contents.”
Investigators were able to repair the laptop after the incident and recover the images, according to the release.
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