EASTON (PA)
The Express-Times
Saturday, December 18, 2004
By RUDY MILLER
The Express-Times
EASTON -- A Sunday school teacher was sent to prison Friday for endangering the welfare of a 15-year-old boy.
Donald Howells, 42, of Wilson Borough, was sentenced to nine months to two years in prison by Northampton County Judge Stephen G. Baratta.
Howells was convicted of the misdemeanor charge during a jury trial that ended Oct. 15. He was acquitted of multiple felonies, including 20 counts each of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault and statutory sexual assault and a single count of corruption of minors.
The boy testified during the trial that Howells, a former youth leader and Sunday school teacher at the First Evangelical Congregational Church on North 10th Street in Easton, molested him more than 50 times between August 2002 and July 2003.
Howells testified he did not molest the boy. His attorney, Steven Goldman, said the boy is emotionally unstable and made up the story to win his mother's approval. She testified she disapproved of the way Howells treated her son.
Posted by kshaw at December 18, 2004 07:07 AM