Content warning: This article contains sensitive topics, including sexual content and child exploitation. Please use caution.
An affidavit acquired by The Bulletin from the Johnson County District Court has revealed new details in the arrest of Howard Pitler, a 72 year old assistant professor at Emporia State who was arrested in late October on a charge of electronic solicitation of a minor under 14.
According to the affidavit, Pitler accessed the chat website “Chat Avenue” on Feb. 9, 2023 under the username Billybob. The affidavit shows user Billybob, who is alleged to be Pitler, proceeded to chat with a 13-year-old girl while posing as a 34-year-old fifth grade teacher from Independence, Mo.
Chats between the young girl and Billybob show Billybob asking and receiving information about the young girl’s age; she was a middle school seventh grader. He continued to engage with her in a sexual manner, asking if she had sexual “fantasies” about her history teacher and if she ever engaged in sexual activities.
At 11:11 a.m., the affidavit indicates Billybob sent the 13-year-old an online pornographic video “of an adult female performing oral sex on an age undetermined male.”
Messages show the young girl asked Billybob “Do you want me to do that to you??” to which Billybob responded “hell ya.” Billybob then is shown orchestrating a plan for the two to meet up at a Casey’s General Store and go to the nearby Candlewood Suites to “get a room and have fun.”
The young girl asks if he means “fun like the video.” Billybob says “As much or as little as you are comfortable with”
He later stopped communicating with the young girl at around noon.
The affidavit shows that Law enforcement obtained Billybob’s IP address, which belonged to Pitler based on Charter Communications subscriber information associated with the address.
When Pitler was contacted at his residence by the FBI’s Kansas City Child Exploitation Task Force on Feb. 16, 2023, he claimed that he was working on an internet security and safety presentation and because of this “had been involved with chat rooms online, so that he could provide examples to educators.” He told authorities that he used “ChatAvenue” to communicate with minors, including on Feb. 9, 2023, and that it was “probable he had previously used the username ‘Billybob.’”
Pitler admitted in later statements to law enforcement that he communicated via online chat rooms with around 40 minors, all girls, in a sexual manner, including sending them links to adult pornography.
Pitler also admitted to downloading images of child pornography, specifically in 1991. In 1991, Pitler was a principal for Wichita Public Schools, a position he held from 1987 until 2003.
He told authorities that the pornography consisted of “girls approximately 13 years old” who were “depicted in sexual positions or having sex.” He said he masturbated to the images for a month, and stopped viewing the images after he was caught.
On Dec. 11, Pitler appeared in court for a status hearing on a preliminary hearing. He is scheduled to next appear in court via Zoom for an additional status hearing on Feb. 2, 2025.
