Acting United States Attorney Robert C. Stuart announced that Gale Robert Gibbs, 67, formerly of North Platte, Nebraska, was sentenced today in Lincoln, Nebraska, to 37 months in prison by Senior United States District Judge Richard G. Kopf, for possessing child pornography.  Gibbs was also ordered to pay $1,000.00 in restitution to the victims and will serve 10 years of supervised release and be required to register as a sex offender.

The North Platte Police Department was contacted by a technician at a computer shop in North Platte after Gibbs took his computer in for repairs.  While examining the computer the technician found a number of thumbnails of images depicting child erotica and child pornography.

On August 31, 2016, the North Platte Police Department obtained a search warrant for Gibbs’ residence and seized the laptop.  After forensic examination approximately 67 images were found on his computer, including 27 images identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children as known victims from outside the State of Nebraska.

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visitwww.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by the North Platte Police Department.