59-year-old Glen Howder of Lawrenceville has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after being found guilty last month of sexually abusing a family member and instructing her to take lewd photos of herself.

During a two and a half hour sentencing hearing this afternoon in Wabash County Circuit Court, Judge William C. Hudson sentenced Howder to 20 years in the Department of Corrections on the Class X child porn charge, and 5 years each on two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse which is a Class 2 felony. All of the sentences will run consecutively with Howder serving 50% of the terms. In addition, Howder would be on three years to life parole after his release.

Only one witness was called to testify for the state and that was Mark Sheftick of the State Police crime lab who analyzed one of Howder’s cell phones. He said it contained 135 images of underage boys and girls engaged in a variety of sex acts.

Defense attorney David Benney called a string of Howder’s family members to testify on his behalf. The witnesses included his mother, two sisters, two brothers, three nephews, and a niece. All said Howder was a good man and always takes care of his family. However, Howder did not testify on his own behalf or offer a statement of allocution.

Despite the lengthy prison sentence, Howder’s legal problems are far from over. In Wabash County, he still faces a Class 3 felony charge of unauthorized videotaping of a person under the age of 18. A jury trial of September 6th was set in that case with a pre-trial conference planned for June 21st. Assistant attorney general Shannon O’Brien, who is assisting state’s attorney Kelli Storckman with prosecution, said they made an offer to Howder to settle the final charge, but it was rejected.

Meanwhile in Edwards County, Howder faces 5 counts of possession of child porn which is a Class 3 felony. A pre-trial conference on that case is planned for Tuesday morning at 9:00.