Nathaniel Rod Gibson, Child Molestation, Missouri 2023

A 34-year-old man from Crawford County, Missouri, has been sentenced to 170 months in prison for grooming and engaging in illegal sexual contact with a minor.

Nathaniel Rod Gibson, 34, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Wednesday for his crimes. Gibson pleaded guilty in January in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and one count of coercion and enticement of a minor.

According to the court documents, Gibson gave the victim a phone and sent her via more than 18,996 text messages from March 10, 2023, to Sept. 6, 2023, while grooming her with romantic and flirtatious statements. Gibson also told the victim to delete the messages so that her mother would not find them.

In June of 2023, Gibson drove the then-13-year-old victim from Missouri to a campground in Arkansas, where he engaged in an illegal sex act with her. He also did so at his home in Crawford County.

The Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, the Diamond City (Arkansas) Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

Gibson pleaded guilty to the following charges:

Travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct
Coercion and enticement of a minor

This case serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting our children from predators like Gibson. If you or someone you know is a victim of child exploitation, please contact the authorities immediately.

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