Indiana man with arsenal, explosives on way to Pride parade charged with molestation

The man accused of carrying an arsenal of weapons and explosives in his car on the way to the L.A. Pride parade was charged Wednesday with having sex with a preteen girl in a car in Jeffersonville, Indiana.

James Wesley Howell, 20, was allegedly in Califoia because he was fleeing the child molestation investigation underway in his hometown, Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull told IndyStar, the website of the Indianapolis Star.

“He understood that this child molesting investigation was ongoing and he was in imminent danger of being arrested,” Clark County Prosecutor Jeremy Mull told IndyStar.

Prosecutors charged him with a single count of child molesting, court records showed. He could face up to 17 years in prison.

Los Angeles County prosecutors on Tuesday charged Howell with crimes that could send him to prison for nearly 10 years. In a brief appearance at the Airport branch courthouse, Howell pleaded not guilty to three felonies — possession of an assault weapon, possession of explosives on a public highway and possession of a high-capacity magazine — and a misdemeanor count of possession of a loaded weapon in a vehicle.

Santa Monica police arrested Howell on Sunday, when they discovered weapons and high-capacity magazines in his car, along with chemicals that when mixed with gasoline form the explosive used in the Oklahoma City bombing, a prosecutor said.

Howell told officers he was on his way to the gay pride parade in West Hollywood.

Court documents showed he carried in his car a 25-pound container of a commercially sold explosive, an Anderson Manufacturing AM-15 .223-caliber AR assault-style rifle loaded with a 30-round detachable magazine, a second 30-round magazine taped to the first, a loaded 30.06-caliber bolt-action rifle with rounds in the chamber, and a .22-caliber Ruger semiautomatic rifle.

He also carried a black hood, a Taser, handcuffs, a buck knife, a security badge, additional rifle ammunition, and a 5-gallon container of gasoline.

Howell was on probation in Indiana following a conviction for intimidation in April. He was ordered to surrender his weapons, and not possess any. That crime involved a male neighbor and a former boyfriend.

A detective wrote that Howell made statements following his arrest in Santa Monica that he had left Indiana because of conces over existing or pending criminal charges.

Advertisement

According to the Indianapolis Star, which interviewed the mother, Howell allegedly molested the girl while taking her to a family friend’s house on May 31.

Court documents cited by the newspaper said Howell parked the car in Clark State Forest, where he kissed and undressed the girl, and molested her in the back seat.

The girl does not understand why Howell is in trouble because she considered Howell as a boyfriend, her mother told the newspaper.

The daughter told investigators she was never forced to have sex with Howell, the newspaper reported. The girl’s mother said they plaed to marry when the girl became old enough.

Court documents said that in the days following the alleged assault, Howell threatened to kill himself and members of the girl’s family. He said he would kill police officers if they tried to arrest him.

He referred to himself in a message as a “sociopath with an automatic,” the paper reported.

Investigators tried to question Howell on June 7, but he asked for a lawyer and was released, the newspaper reported. Santa Monica police arrested him five days later.