An Aspen man was formally charged Monday with two felony sex crimes connected with his alleged possession of pornographic images of young children.
Blair Gibsone, 48, appeared at a hearing without an attorney in Pitkin County District Court, where Judge Chris Seldin advised him he faces a Class III felony count of sexual exploitation of children and a Class IV felony offense of sexual exploitation of a child.
“As of now, the charges are possession, essentially possession of child pornography,” Seldin said. “Those are the charges as currently filed. They don’t relate to any particular victims. … We don’t have a sexual-assault-of-a-child charge as of now.”
Gibsone offered few remarks but said he had filed paperwork seeking a public defender and had not heard back yet.
Police arrested Gibsone on June 22 after he told them he viewed child pornography on both his iPad and cellphone. Gibsone came under suspicion after a female acquaintance of his reported to police that Gibsone told her on social media he molested a 10-year-old girl whom he had babysat.
When police asked him about that, he said he was intoxicated while having a Facebook Messenger chat with the reporting party and didn’t recall details of the conversation, according to allegations in an arrest warrant affidavit.
Gibsone told authorities he had never babysat before but conceded he has had sexual fantasies about children and has viewed provocative pictures of them, according to affidavit’s allegations. With Gibson’s permission and passwords, police opened two of his devices and found more than 20 sexually explicit photographs of children, the warrant alleges.
With a conviction, the Class III felony carries a presumptive prison range of four years to life, Seldin said. The Class IV felony carries two years to life. Convictions in either count also include three years of mandatory parole as well as fines, Seldin said.
Gibsone, who is out of custody on bond, is due back in court July 15.
As part of his bond conditions, Gibsone is not allowed to have any contact with anyone under the age of 18.