Nathaniel Rod Gibson, Grooming Minor, Missouri 2023

State: Missouri
Category: Sex Crimes
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmo/pr/crawford-county-man-admits-grooming-minor" style="color:#cc0000;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">DOJ Press Release ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Â Ã¢â‚¬â€

ST. LOUIS – In a shocking case of child exploitation, Nathaniel Rod Gibson, 34, pleaded guilty to grooming and engaging in illegal sexual contact with a minor in Crawford County, Missouri.

Gibson, a Crawford County resident, admitted to giving the victim a phone and exchanging over 18,996 text messages with her from March 10, 2023, to September 6, 2023. The messages were flirtatious and inappropriate, and Gibson told the victim to delete them so that her mother would not find them.

According to court documents, Gibson drove the victim from Missouri to a campground in Arkansas in June 2023, where he engaged in an illegal sex act with her. He also committed the same act at his home in Crawford County.

Gibson pleaded guilty to one count of travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and one count of coercion and enticement of a minor in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on Wednesday. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison for the travel with the intent charge and 20 years for the coercion and enticement of a minor.

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.

Gibson is scheduled to be sentenced on April 15. The court will determine his sentence at that time.

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. The program marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

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