Frederick man gets 130 months for possessing child sexual abuse material

Mar. 25—A Frederick man was sentenced to serve more than 10 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography after police found nearly 600 images on his electronic devices, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander sentenced Roy Edward Gibbs, 66, to 130 months in prison Thursday, according to a Department of Justice news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland. Upon release, Gibbs will undergo 25 years of supervised release and must continue to register as a sex offender. Gibbs pleaded guilty Feb. 3.

Gibbs' attorney, David Benowitz, said he was not prepared to comment on the case Friday morning.

Prior to this case, Gibbs was convicted in Montgomery County Circuit Court in 2006 on four counts involving the sexual abuse of two girls, the release states. After serving the sentence for the Montgomery case, Gibbs downloaded and distributed images and videos of child sexual abuse material.

Undercover law enforcement officers repeatedly received child pornography from Gibbs over a file sharing network between August and November of 2019, the U.S. attorney's office said. An IP address associated with Gibbs' residence made 19 different child pornography files available for download, a Frederick County Sheriff's Office detective found in August 2019.

The detective connected to Gibbs' tablet computer's IP address and downloaded seven packages of child pornography, which included depictions of prepubescent girls. In November 2019, an FBI special agent in Dallas also downloaded child pornography Gibbs had made available, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

Law enforcement agents executed a series of federal search warrants at Gibbs' residence and on his vehicles on Nov. 15, 2019. Forensic examination of several electronic devices reportedly revealed at least 568 images of child pornography. At least 45 images were identical to images investigators downloaded over the file sharing network after connecting to Gibbs' tablet, the U.S. Attorney's statement said. The forensic review also found Gibbs used data shredding/deleting apps to try to hide evidence of child pornography.

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 Chuck Jenkins; and Frederick County State's Attorney J. Charles Smith. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joyce R. King, Chief Counsel of the Frederick County State's Attorney's Office, helped prosecute the federal case.

Follow Mary Grace Keller on Twitter: @MaryGraceKeller