Grand jury indicts Lebanon man on child sex crime charges

A federal grand jury this week indicted a Lebanon man on several sex crime charges involving children.

Douglas Gibson, 38, is charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of sexual exploitation of a minor by a registered sex offender, one count of distribution of child sexual abuse material, and one count of possession of child sexual abuse material.

If convicted on all counts, Gibson faces up to 135 years in prison. A U.S. federal district court judge would determine the actual sentence after considering the U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

The Boone County Sheriff’s Department began an investigation after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that Gibson had shared numerous child sexual abuse materials online. He was charged and arrested here in September. Investigators said at the time they were still looking into evidence gathered.

Further investigation allegedly found that Gibson secretly recorded a prepubescent child by hiding video cameras in the air vent of a bathroom, loft, and bedroom of the child’s residence. Gibson then distributed images and files of the victim in various states of undress to other individuals, it was alleged in the indictment, according to a news release from federal court.

Boone County investigators worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internet Crimes Against Children Unit of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, and the local case was transferred to federal court.

Gibson has been housed in the Boone County Jail in Lebanon since his arrest in September. In February, he filed a civil lawsuit against Boone County Sheriff Tony Harris.

Gibson claims in part that he had been denied one of his prescribed medications since the beginning of his incarceration. Harris was not sheriff then but took office Jan. 1. Gibson claims to have suffered “severe” withdraw from the medication that could have provided additional pain relief.

Gibson seeks $265,130.67 in damages for a “violation of rights to medical treatment.”

The Boone County Jail has medical personnel on site 24 hours a day, and Gibson’s suit indicated he was treated by the jail’s medical staff.

At the time of his arrest in September, Gibson was already a registered sex offender, having been convicted of sexual misconduct with a minor in 2010 in Hendricks County, according to court records.

Gibson was charged in May 2020 in Boone County with strangulation, domestic battery, possession of marijuana and three counts of possession of paraphernalia in a case that is still pending.

If you see something, make the call

Anyone who suspects a child is being abused should call Indiana’s child abuse hotline at 1-800-800-5556. The hotline is the clearinghouse for child abuse reports but sends information directly and quickly to the appropriate Boone County law enforcement agency for investigation.