Former Fauquier County School Teacher Sentenced 210 Months for Producing Child Porn with Student

June 4, 2010 - ALEXANDRIA, VA—A former science teacher at Cedar Lee Middle School, Scott Christopher Howe, 34, of Fauquier County, Va., was sentenced today to 210 months in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for producing child pornography by filming himself engaging in sexual activity with a student.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Shawn Henry, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office; and Charlie Ray Fox, Fauquier County Sheriff, made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema.

“Scott Howe betrayed the trust a teacher has with a young student and will now spend more than 17 years in prison,” said U.S. Attorney MacBride. “These disgusting videos are a parent’s worst nightmare. My Office is committed to ensuring sexual predators are caught and unable to victimize others.”

“Individuals who engage in producing child pornography will be brought to justice; not only to stop them from inflicting further abuse, but to give their victims, and their victims’ families, a sense of safety and closure,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Henry.

Howe was convicted after a bench trial on March 8, 2010. According to court records and evidence presented at trial, Howe used a video camera to film the student—who was 14 and 15 years old at the time—engaging in various forms of sexual activity alone or with Howe in Howe’s classroom and at two of his residences.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Jerry Smagala and Special Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey Zeeman prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.