COVINGTON — Larry Eugene Howell, accused of molesting children, said he is outraged a grand jury didn't indict the 40-year-old mother who shot him in the groin.

        “I don't feel like I can get a fair trial in Kenton County when the community won't indict Mrs. (Jaymie) Hutchins,” Mr. Howell said during a 75-minute jail-house interview on Tuesday. “Police took the gun out of her hands. She admits to shooting me.”

        Friday, a Kenton County grand jury declined to indict IRS secretary Jaymie Hutchins of Covington on a felony first-degree assault charge in connection with the Nov. 29 shooting. Mrs. Hutchins has said she “shot him where it counts so he wouldn't hurt any more kids.” She said Mr. Howell, charged with nine counts of sodomy, molested her teen-age son.

        Mr. Howell, in his first extended interview since he was shot, said that isn't true. He claims Mrs. Hutchins shot him to get out of paying $2,600 she owed and says that he didn't molest her son.

        Mr. Howell said he never had improper sexual contact with any juveniles. But he said he was “infatuated” with Mrs. Hutchins and had a physical relationship with her. He said the “J.M.H.” tattooed on his left biceps are Mrs. Hutchins' initials.

        Prosecutors were two votes short of getting the nine votes needed for the 12-member grand jury to indict the mother on a charge of first-degree assault under extreme emotional duress.

        Mrs. Hutchins, who expects to be reinstated at her job at the IRS, denied Mr. Howell's claims and said her initials are “J.L.H.” She did borrow $300 from him, she said, but not $2,600.

        “I don't have anything to say to that man,” Mrs. Hutchins said. “It makes me sick to think about that man. What he did makes me full of outrage. I want this guy to go away forever, to be removed from my mind and the children's minds.”

        She said Mr. Howell was playing a “sick head game” with her, and that she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of arguing the facts of the case.

        Mr. Howell, at the Kenton County Detention Center, displayed his wounds to a reporter and photographer. He said both bullets remain in his body. He said the bullet that went through his left leg, nicked his penis and lodged in his right leg. He said he was in good health and maintained all his physical functions.

        At the time of the shooting, Mr. Howell said he was trying to collect on a $300 bad check Mrs. Hutchins wrote him and was pursuing the matter in Kenton County Court. Mrs. Hutchins said Mr. Howell gave her a small loan to pay two credit card bills. The check has since been paid by Mrs. Hutchins' attorney.

        Erlanger police, who are investigating the nine sodomy counts against Mr. Howell, said they stand by their charges, which are based on complaints made by multiple victims and their parents. Police estimate that as many as 30 young boys, including one from Cincinnati, may be connected to the charges against Mr. Howell.

        Mr. Howell is also charged with possession of child pornography and possession of marijuana.

        Mr. Howell said he was a long-time friend of the family and received a Father's Day card from Mrs. Hutchins' son. She said her son liked Mr. Howell, and the family approved of the card because the man said he couldn't have children of his own.

        It is likely that Mr. Howell's case will go before the same grand jury that declined to indict the woman who shot him.

        Mr. Howell is being held in an isolation cell, under tightened security, on $250,000 cash bail. Mr. Howell, who served 17 years and six months in Kentucky on various burglary charges, said his newly appointed public defender would decide the precise course of his defense.

        “I would go to hell before I pleaded guilty to something I didn't do,” Mr. Howell said. “I have no desire to molest any kids. If I had a son and someone molested him, I would probably want to do what she (Mrs. Hutchins) did.”

       E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com
       

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