Ricky Dale Howard, Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Texas 2023

A Nocona man has been convicted of sexually exploiting a missing teenager, announced Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Prerak Shah. Ricky Dale Howard, 59, pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child hours after a mistrial was declared due to juror injury.

According to evidence presented in court, law enforcement obtained several of Mr. Howard's computers during an investigation into the disappearance of an 18-year-old high school senior who was reported missing on April 1, 2015. On the computers, investigators found sexually explicit images that appeared to show Mr. Howard sexually abusing the missing boy.

In pleading guilty, Mr. Howard admitted that he enticed the minor into engaging in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of creating a visual depiction. The victim's mother, Tami Diehl, testified that she and her children had been close with the Howard family since the boys were children.

Law enforcement officers testified that following the boy's disappearance, Mr. Howard told police the last time he'd seen the victim was the weekend before he went missing, when the pair attempted to repair his broken-down truck. Several days into the missing person investigation, an officer observed a burn pit with several incinerated computers on Mr. Howard's property.

Two years after the disappearance, Ms. Diehl discovered a small handheld tape recorder hidden in the back of a bathroom cabinet. The tape recorder contained audio of Mr. Howard asking himself polygraph questions pertaining to his sexual interest in young boys.

Mr. Howard now faces up to 30 years in federal prison. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Dallas Field Office, Wichita Falls Resident Agency, the Montague County Sheriff's Office, and the Nocona Police Department conducted the investigation with the assistance of the Montague County District Attorney's Office and the Texas Rangers.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brandie Wade and Nancy Larson are prosecuting the case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/pr/nocona-man-convicted-sexual-exploitation-missing-boy