SALINE COUNTY, Mo. (TCN) —Â A 32-year-old man is in custody for allegedly sexually assaulting an elementary school student in exchange for getting meth from her mother.
According to a probable cause statement, on April 10, the Pettis/Cooper County Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services learned about a child who said her mother “would allow different men to sexually abuse her in exchange for methamphetamine” when she was between 3 and 12 years old. She identified one of the men as “Tom,” but forgot the other men’s names. Tom was identified as Thomas Gibbs Jr.
The victim, her brother, her mother, and mother’s boyfriend reportedly moved into a small apartment in Gilliam when she was 5 years old, though she said it was a “mistake because that was when the bad things started to happen.”
The victim said her mom and her boyfriend “would smoke out of glass pipes, and it would make them angry and tired.” Once her mother and the boyfriend broke up, Gibbs reportedly started hanging out around the apartment. The victim said Gibbs “lived in a trailer with his mother where they had a room full of chemistry stuff.”
The victim stopped attending school, so the school sent a hotline number. She reportedly said Gibbs beat her and her brother, which the Department of Social Services had pictures of. The victim said Gibbs would mainly talk to her rather than her mother when he came around. Gibbs allegedly had her sit in his lap while they used his PlayStation. She was 7 or 8 years old at the time.
She claimed that on more than one occasion, Gibbs held her down on the bed while he sexually assaulted her. He allegedly told her it was “a secret, and they were play fighting.” The victim told detectives she “didn’t have fun. It wasn’t a game she liked to play.”
Detectives spoke with the victim’s mother, who said Gibbs housesat for her while she spent time in jail on the weekends and that they “probably” used meth together. She also said she did not remember Gibbs ever bringing over a PlayStation, but noted they had an Xbox in the house. A neighbor, however, said she saw Gibbs with the gaming console.
Saline County deputies arrested Gibbs on May 7. He’s in custody at the Saline County Jail on a charge of first-degree rape or attempted rape.
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