Ex-Troop Leader & AA Exec Pleads Guilty In Child Sex Case
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PITTSBURGH (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — A former North Texas Boy Scouts of America troop leader and American Airlines executive has pleaded guilty to a federal interstate child-sex charge.
Prosecutors have agreed to recommend a 10-year prison term after the plea Wednesday by Arlington resident Ray Howland.
Howland was arrested near Pittsburgh International Airport last June by an undercover state attorney general's agent who posed as a woman with a 10-year-old daughter. The now 56-year-old Howland used an iPad and a cellphone to send explicit messages after posting online that he was "looking for a family or a couple of girls" for sex while in town on business.
Defense lawyer Frank Walker says the two sides negotiated the recommended sentence that a judge must still approve. He says Howland has undergone counseling and has his family's support.
In addition to working for Fort Worth-based American Airlines, Howland was a troop leader in the Longhorn Council of the Boy Scouts of America, leading a co-ed program for teens called Venture Crew.
Howland also made headlines years ago. While working as a AA operations manager he learned of the first September 11 hijacking before the jet struck the World Trade Center.
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