By Alex Tomlin
KRQE
January 8, 2010
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/former-mayor-charged-with-raping-child
 |
| William Howden's jail booking photo (left) and portait as Episcopal priest. |
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The man elected the first mayor when Rio Rancho became a city nearly 30 years ago has been charged with kidnapping and raping a 7-year-old girl whose family knew and trusted him.
William Howden, 70, is being held on a $100,000 cash-only bond.
According to a criminal complaint the girl told her mother Howden locked her in a storage shed behind his home in Albuquerque's North Valley on Thanksgiving. There he pulled down his pants and made her touch him, and he also fondled her, the girl alleged.
Her mother told police she found blood on her daughter's tights. The girl also claimed the molestation had been going on for months and that Howden made her watch pornographic movies with him.
“The charges in this case are likely to change and likely to be upgraded by the time we get to the grand jury," Pat Davis, a spokesman for the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office, told KRQE News 13.
Family members told police Howden had been acting strangely with the child and even tried to keep him from being alone with her.
Davis said having family members back the child's accusations would be important in prosecuting the case.
“One of the biggest hurdles we have to overcome in these cases is to balance the word of a child against an adult, especially one who is engaged in a public life and standing in the community,” Davis said.
Investigators quoted Howden's wife as saying Howden apologized when she confronted him with the child's story. She threw him out of the house, and officers arrested him at his office.
Howden, a former Episcopal priest, owns Marriage-Makers, a company that plans and officiates weddings. He served one year as mayor of Rio Rancho after the community incorporated as a city in 1981.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.