COVINGTON — A Northern Kentucky mother charged with assaulting an Erlanger man Thursday declared that he is a pedophile and said she “shot him where it counts so he won't ever touch another child again.”

        She told a Kenton County judge at her Friday morning arraignment that she shot the man because “he molested my son and three other kids.” It was a claim she repeated in an interview with The Enquirer from the Kenton County Detention Center.

        In a telephone interview Friday, the 40-year-old Covington mother of five said she shot the family friend, Larry Eugene Howell, in the groin and abdomen. The shooting came just hours after her 13-year-old son told her the 40-year-old man had molested him several times during the past 18 months.

        Police say they are investigating her allegations and those made by other parents. Authorities have identified as many as 20 children with whom Mr. Howell allegedly had improper contact, Erlanger Police Detective Tony Wilson said. The victims, he said, are from Kenton and Campbell counties.

        The woman said she wanted to stop Mr. Howell from hurting other children.

        “I could have shot him eight more times, but I didn't want to kill him,” she said from the jail. “I just wanted to stop him. I didn't want to see another child get hurt.”

        The Enquirer is not identifying the woman to protect her son.

        Mr. Howell's attorney, David J. Bender of Covington, would not comment on the allegations made against his client.

        “She deliberately shot my client,” Mr. Bender said. “We can't stand for vigilante justice. We can't tolerate that.”

        Covington Police arrested the woman moments after the shooting, which occurred about 7:20 p.m. Thursday in the parking lot of the CVS Pharmacy in the 2000 block of Madison Avenue — directly across the street from the Covington Police Station.

        Mr. Howell was convicted in August 2000 of distributing obscene material to a minor in connection with an incident in which he picked up a boy in the same CVS Pharmacy parking lot, said Assistant Kenton County Attorney John Middleton. Mr. Howell paid a $500 fine and served no jail time.

        Mr. Howell was in fair condition Friday night at University Hospital. He had surgery to repair damage to his bowels and spleen, his lawyer said.

        Thursday's shooting came two days after Mr. Howell, a part-time carnival worker, was charged with trafficking in marijuana within 1,000 yards of a school — St. Henry Grade School on Dixie Highway — and possession of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor. After an eight-week investigation, officers from the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force and Erlanger police raided his home in the 4400 block of Dixie Highway. They removed a substantial amount of marijuana and cash, but also discovered — and removed as evidence — 25 pictures of naked boys, 150 negatives and a computer from Mr. Howell's home.

        Mr. Howell was released from the Kenton County Detention Center Wednesday after posting $1,000 bond.

First-degree assault

        His accused assailant, who works as a secretary at the IRS Center in Covington, was arraigned Friday morning on a first-degree assault charge. That is a felony punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison. Authorities said she had a 9 mm Smith & Wesson pistol in her hand when arrested.

        She was being held on $20,000 bond Friday.

        Court records indicate this was the woman's first violent offense. She has two prior convictions for driving under the influence in November 2000 and alcohol intoxication in October 1995.

        “This man needed to be stopped,” Mr. Howell's accused assailant said. “They let him right back out on bond.”

        The woman said she also was frustrated by a “lack of justice” in an unrelated sexual abuse case involving her daughter.

        “Moms are tired of their babies being touched by perverts ... Moms aren't going to take this anymore.”

        Detective Wilson said he met with the woman several hours before the shooting Thursday because she wanted to see whether her son was among the boys in the pictures. He was not.

        However, she told the detective that her son had spent considerable time with Mr. Howell.

        “She was crying and upset,” Detective Wilson said, “but I never dreamed she would shoot him.”

        When the mother learned of the charges against Mr. Howell on Thursday, she asked her son if he was one of the man's alleged victims.

        “I could see it on his face,” she said. “I said, "Honey, you have to tell me.'”

        The woman said her son told her that Mr. Howell had repeatedly molested him during the past 1 1/2 years. The boy told her, she said, the most recent incident occurred about 4 1/2 or 5 weeks ago.

        “When he finally told me, he was relieved,” she told The Enquirer. “He said he didn't tell us before because he was afraid (Mr. Howell) would hurt us or him.”

        The woman said her son told how he and other boys had received expensive gifts from Mr. Howell, including a scooter, a $500 gold chain and Sony PlayStations.

The confrontation

        After talking with her son Thursday, the woman said Mr. Howell telephoned and asked to meet at the CVS pharmacy. She agreed and brought her 13-year-old son.

        The woman said she had no intention of shooting Mr. Howell.

        “I always carry a weapon for self-protection,” she said. “I have a conceal-carry permit.”

        Police said Friday they could not verify that the woman has a concealed carry permit. However, because it is legal to carry a firearm openly in Kentucky and her weapon was visible, she would not be charged with a weapons violation.

        The woman said Mr. Howell immediately approached her van after she drove into the CVS lot. He began yelling at her and her son, she said.

        “It all happened so fast,” she said of the shooting. “(Mr. Howell) yelled at my son, and he jumped toward me. My son was screaming and yelling and crying.”

        The woman said Mr. Howell took off running after she fired at him. She said she held her gun on him until the police arrived.

        The woman's husband said he and his wife had been suspicious of the time that Mr. Howell spent with young boys, and had refused to let their son go anywhere with him “for a very long time.”

        “We confronted (Mr. Howell) several times, but he denied anything was going on,” the husband said.

        “You'd ask people who knew him why he was spending so much time with the kids, and they'd say, "He's just a good-hearted guy.'”

        Peter O. Samples, state chairman of the Kentucky Multi-County Task Force on Child Abuse, said incidents such as Thursday's shooting are rare.

        “In most cases of child abuse or molestation, the police identify a victim or victims and work on much more of a personal, quiet level of investigation before an arrest is made,” Mr. Samples said. “It protects the identity of the children.

        “Here, some of the victims were apparently identified after the man was first arrested,” Mr. Samples said. “When this kind of message goes out, parents go bananas.”

        Terry Flynn and Jane Prendergast contributed to this report.
       

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