Photo: David Brian Gibson
A registered sex offender from Flippin appeared in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday and pled not guilty to drug and weapons charges filed in Baxter County.
Forty-nine-year-old David Brian Gibson was first arrested in September last year when he was found sleeping in a vehicle parked along College Street.
When a Mountain Home police officer made contact with Gibson, he said he was waiting on his girlfriend.
The officer saw a methamphetamine smoking pipe on the center console and located a substance field testing positive for methamphetamine.
An unloaded firearm was found behind the driver’s seat.
Gibson admitted to possessing the methamphetamine and transporting the gun, but said the weapon did not belong to him.
Charges against Gibson included simultaneously possessing drugs and firearms, a Class Y felony. The Class Y felony is the most serious criminal charge in Arkansas not punishable by death. He was also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Gibson was arrested again in April, when he tried to outrun a Mountain Home police officer attempting to stop his vehicle for a traffic infraction.
The pursuit ended when officers went to a residence along Power Street and found Gibson hiding in a “secret room” in the garage.
Gibson identified himself as Ethan Watson, but a record check showed no one by that name. Gibson eventually gave officers his real name.
He said he fled, because he was in possession of illegal drugs. He admitted giving a false name because he had active criminal warrants in his real name.
Gibson also told police he had been living at the Power Street address for some time, but had not given notice of his change of address to law enforcement, as is required of sex offenders.
According to records, Gibson was convicted of internet stalking of a child in 2007 in Sheridan. The charge was based on Gibson having sexually explicit conversations with a girl he believed was 14-year-old, but was actually a female police officer. He was also reported to have set up a meeting with the female.
At the time of the two arrests, Gibson was listed as a Level 3 sex offender in Marion County. A Level 3 offender is assessed as being at a high risk for reoffending.
Gibson was ordered to reappear in circuit court Nov. 12.
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