Man Charged with Having Sex with Girl Under 16

Editor's Note: This story has been revised. The Lexington County Sheriff's Department originally provided the incorrect charge for Howdyshell. Howdyshell is charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child between the ages of 14 and 16.

A 27-year-old man was booked at the Lexington County Detention Center last week after deputies say he had sex with a girl between 14 and 16 years old.

Robert Dale Howdyshell is accused of raping the girl at her aunt's house in Gaston in August of last year, according to an incident report. The girl contracted an STD after the incident, the mother told deputies.

Howdyshell, who lived at the girl's aunt's house, was sitting on the couch with the girl when they started talking about her being a virgin, according to the report. He then told her to follow him to the bathroom.

The girl told him no, according to the report, but he grabbed her hand and led her to the bathroom where he forced her to have sex with him.

The girl's aunts were in the house, according to the report, but were asleep in other rooms.

The girl told deputies that two days later, she engaged in a sexual act with Howdyshell, but that it was consensual, according to the report. She also said she had several other consensual sexual encounters with Howdyshell last year.

The girl's mother didn't know about the incidents until recently, according to the report. When she found out, she took her daughter to the doctor and to the sheriff's department to report it. 

Howdyshell was arrested on an arrest warrant charge of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child between 14 and 16 and booked at the detention center on Sept. 19. He is being held on a $50,000 bond.

See the full booking report from Sept. 19.