Man, 72, accused of child porn

By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published April 10, 2007

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TAMPA - Roger Stowell, a 72-year-old retiree with no Florida arrest history, walked off an airplane and into federal custody Sunday night.

Authorities accused him of having child pornography on his computer.

His family turned him in.

Stowell's wife of more than 40 years noticed her husband spent a lot of time on his home computer, according to federal court records. He was secretive about it. Once, she saw nude children on the screen when he forgot to cover it.

Last month, when her husband took a solo trip to Peru, she called the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office.

She told them she had never seen her husband act inappropriately around children. They had four grown kids of their own. But she recalled how Stowell was fired long ago from his job as principal of a school in Germany after allegations that he molested a boy.

He was not charged.

Stowell's adult son told authorities that he found thousands of pornographic images of children on his father's computer after his mother asked him to take a look.

That got the attention of a multiagency task force that targets Internet sex crimes involving minors.

Some of the images found on Stowell's computer showed him with what appeared to be the same children shown in pornographic images and movies.

The images looked as though they were taken outside the United States, perhaps in South America, federal records said.

Stowell, of 4808 Wynwood Drive, Tampa, was arrested at Tampa International Airport after he returned from the Peru trip.

He is being held at the Orient Road Jail and is scheduled to appear in federal court today.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, he had pornographic images of children with him at the time of his arrest.

Colleen Jenkins can be reached at 813 226-3337 or cjenkins@sptimes.com.