Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander sentenced Roy Edward Gibbs, age 66, of Frederick, Maryland to 130 months in federal prison, followed by 25 years of supervised release, for possession of child pornography. Judge Hollander also ordered that, upon his release from prison, Gibbs must continue to register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).
The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge James Mancuso of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Baltimore; Frederick County Sheriff Charles A. “Chuck” Jenkins; and Frederick County State’s Attorney J. Charles Smith.
According to his plea agreement, in July 2006, Gibbs was convicted in Montgomery County Circuit Court on four counts involving the sexual abuse of two prepubescent girls.
After serving his sentence for the sexual abuse convictions, Gibbs began downloading and distributing images and videos of child pornography using a peer-to-peer file-sharing software. Between August 2019 and November 2019, Gibbs repeatedly distributed child pornography to undercover law enforcement officers over a file-sharing network.
For example, in August 2019, a detective from the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office determined that a device using an IP address associated with Gibbs’s residence made 19 different files containing child pornography available for download. The detective was also able to establish a direct connection to Gibbs’s tablet IP address and download seven packages of files containing child pornography, including prepubescent minor girls. Between November 4 and November 14, 2019, an FBI Special Agent in Dallas also downloaded a number of images depicting child pornography made available by Gibbs on the same file-sharing network.
As detailed in the plea agreement, on November 15, 2019, law enforcement agents executed a series of federal search warrants on Gibbs’s residence and vehicles. Forensic examination of several electronic devices, including Gibbs’s tablet and its 32 MicroSD card, revealed at least 568 images of child pornography. Additionally, at least 45 images examined during the forensic review were identical to images downloaded by investigators over the file-sharing network after making direct connections to Gibbs’s tablet. The forensic review of Gibbs’s tablet also revealed data shredding/deletion applications used by Gibbs to attempt to hide evidence of his distribution and possession of child pornography.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the “Resources” tab on the left of the page.
United States Attorney Erek L. Barron commended HSI Baltimore, the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office, and the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office for their work in the investigation and prosecution. Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul A. Riley and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joyce R. King, Chief Counsel of the Frederick County State’s Attorney’s Office cross-designated to handle this case, who prosecuted the federal case.
For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.
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