A New Castle man is facing a Level 3 felony rape charge along with several other felony counts after investigators say his cell phone contained seven videos and at least 34 photos showing him performing sex acts on a woman who appeared unconscious. Brian Howe was located by law enforcement near 18th Street and Broad Street in New Castle on August 26, and officials seized both his phone and drugs from him at that time.
According to court documents cited by Fox 59, the New Castle Police Department opened its investigation this past August into an alleged sexual assault involving Howe and a woman he says he has known for four years as a friend. Howe told investigators the woman was intoxicated when she came to his trailer and that she passed out on his couch, the outlet reports. He reportedly filmed himself performing sex acts on her while she was unconscious, per the court documents.
Woman Says She Has No Memory of the Encounter
The woman told police she did not remember engaging in any sexual activity with Howe and denied ever consenting to it, according to the same court documents. She said she would not have agreed to being recorded or to sexual contact while intoxicated, asleep or unconscious, and she also denied having any sexual or intimate relationship with Howe. After identifying herself in a still image taken from the videos, the woman reacted with visible concern and disgust upon learning she had been recorded, the outlet's report states.
Howe has offered a different account. He claimed the woman agreed in advance to be recorded or photographed and maintained that the sexual activity was consensual and arranged beforehand. He also told investigators he paid the woman $50 so she could have fun and take photographs, an allegation the woman said was false. Howe has continued to deny that he committed any criminal sexual conduct, insisting he did nothing wrong even after learning of the charges against him.
A Third Man's Account to Investigators
Court documents describe another man telling police that Howe showed him a video depicting sexual acts involving a woman who appeared unconscious or unaware. That same man reportedly told investigators Howe said he had engaged in similar sexual activity with other women who had passed out from drug use, according to the documents. When told he had been charged with rape, Howe reportedly expressed surprise that law enforcement believed the woman's account over his own.
Charges and What They Carry
Howe was charged with rape, a Level 3 felony; sexual battery and voyeurism, both Level 6 felonies; obstruction of justice, also a Level 6 felony; and two misdemeanor drug charges. Under Indiana Code § 35-42-4-1, sexual intercourse or sexual conduct with a person who is unaware or incapable of giving voluntary consent due to intoxication or unconsciousness is charged as Level 3 felony rape, according to state law referenced by the Indiana General Assembly. A conviction on that count alone carries a mandatory prison term of 3 to 16 years, with an advisory sentence of 9 years and a fine of up to $10,000, per the Law Office of Jerry L. Garner.
The Level 6 felony charges each carry a lighter range of six months to two and a half years in prison, with an advisory sentence of one year, according to the Hayes Law Office. The voyeurism charge was elevated from a misdemeanor to a felony specifically because the recorded material was allegedly shown to another person, a distinction laid out under Indiana Code § 35-45-4-5 as explained by B. Hicks Law. The obstruction of justice count, meanwhile, applies under Indiana Code § 35-44.1-2-2 to anyone who alters, damages, removes or conceals evidence with intent to prevent its use in an official investigation, per Justia Law.
Registry Requirements Loom if Convicted
If convicted of rape or sexual battery, Howe would be required to register with the Indiana Sex and Violent Offender Registry for at least 10 years and potentially for life, according to the Criminal Defense Team. Indiana law also allows courts and detention facilities to enforce a mandatory 24-hour hold following an arrest for sexual battery or rape before bail can be set, per the Indiana General Assembly. Howe had an initial hearing in Henry County on Tuesday.
Part of a String of Recent Henry County Cases
The case adds to a run of serious sex-crime allegations Hoodline has tracked in and around New Castle this year, including a similar recorded assault case involving an unconscious victim, as well as a May case involving an alleged apartment sex assault on a 13-year-old and an August case in which a former local candidate was jailed on AI-related child abuse charges. New Castle is the county seat and only city in Henry County, with an estimated population of 17,373 residents in 2025 within a county of roughly 49,137, according to STATS Indiana. The county recorded a violent crime rate of 15.9 offenses per 100,000 residents in 2022, a 30.6% decline from 2014 levels, per Data USA figures drawn from FBI and Census metrics.
