MADISON, WIS. – A Fennimore, Wisconsin man is charged with producing and possessing child pornography in an indictment returned on July 13, 2022, by a federal grand jury sitting in Madison. The charges are announced by Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin.
The indictment charges James C. Gibson, 53, with 4 counts of using minors to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of the conduct. The indictment alleges that Gibson used a cellular phone to produce the child pornography on four occasions between January 2020 and September 2021.
The indictment also charges Gibson with 1 count of possessing child pornography. The indictment alleges that on November 8, 2021, he possessed a cellular phone containing visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The indictment further alleges that at least one of the depictions was of a minor who had not attained 12 years of age.
The indictment was unsealed following Gibson’s arrest Wednesday, July 27, at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming by the U.S. Marshals Service, pursuant to an arrest warrant issued at the time the indictment was returned. Gibson made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Mammoth, Wyoming yesterday and remains in federal custody. An identity and detention hearing is scheduled for August 2 in federal court in Wyoming.
If convicted, Gibson faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years in federal prison on each production charge and a maximum of 20 years on the possession charge.
The charges against Gibson are the result of an investigation by the Fennimore Police Department, Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, U.S. Marshals Service Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force, and the U.S. Marshals Service in the District of Wyoming and Southern District of Illinois, with the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming. Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Przybylinski Finn is handling the prosecution. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christyne Martens is handling the court appearances in Wyoming.
You are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.