VALDOSTA, Ga. — A 50-year-old south Georgia man will spend nearly three decades in prison for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl after coercing her with alcohol at a Valdosta hotel, federal prosecutors announced.
A release issued Friday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Albany said Dewayne Howell had been convicted on one count of coercion and enticement of a minor in February for the 2020 abuse. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
According to the release, Howell and his brother Laronce Howell picked up the 13-year-old victim and her 16-year-old sister and "traveled to a liquor store, where Dewayne Howell purchased alcohol, and then to a hotel in Valdosta, where he rented a hotel room."
"Dewayne Howell took (the 13-year-old victim) alone to the hotel room, where he sexually abused her. Surveillance video from the hotel showed that Dewayne Howell then let Laronce Howell and (the victim's) sister into the room. The adult men gave the children alcohol before eventually bringing them back home," the release stated.
There is no parole in the federal prison system, the U.S. Attorney's Office noted. In addition to the 27-year prison sentence, Howell will have to register as a child sex offender upon release and undergo 12 years of supervised release.
He would be 89 years old upon the conclusion of his sentence.
“Child predators who target the most vulnerable members of our society will face severe punishment in federal court,” U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary said in a statement. “I want to thank the local law enforcement teams in the Valdosta community for helping us hold this defendant accountable for his crime.”
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