A 35-year-old Army sergeant is facing up to 291 years in prison after being convicted on child-molestation and child-pornography charges.
Sgt. 1st Class Robert Dale Higgins was arrested in October 2007 after his then-girlfriend told police she saw a recording on his computer showing him molesting a 4-year-old girl, said Cochise County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer.
When police searched Higgins' home, they found a laptop that contained 14 pornographic images of girls who appeared to be under the age of 15, Rheinheimer said.
The images were downloaded from the Internet, Rheinheimer said.
A Cochise County jury convicted Higgins of 19 felony charges Thursday following a two-week trial in Bisbee.
Higgins was convicted of multiple counts of possession of child pornography and one count each of child molestation, sexual exploitation of a minor, indecent exposure and tampering with physical evidence.
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Higgins was charged with tampering because authorities believe he destroyed the hard drive on the computer that contained the digital recording of the molestation, Rheinheimer said.
Several of the charges carry a potential sentence of 10 to 17 years and many of them have to be served consecutively, Rheinheimer said.
Higgins claimed the images were left on his computer by others, Rheinheimer said. He also argued that if his hard drive hadn't been destroyed it would've exonerated him.
A sentencing date for Higgins, who is now in jail, has not yet been scheduled.
Tanja M. Linton, a spokeswoman for Fort Huachuca, said Higgins is currently assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 40th Signal Expeditionary Battalion. He joined the Army May 15, 1996, and is a satellite-communication systems operator-maintainer.
