photo by: Dylan Lysen/Lawrence Journal-World

Trey L. Gibson, 20, listens to a prosecutor speak during a preliminary hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021.

A Lawrence man who was originally charged with raping a child, among several other offenses, pleaded no contest Tuesday in Douglas County District Court to two lesser crimes.

The man, Trey L. Gibson, 20, was charged with rape, aggravated criminal sodomy, aggravated indecent liberties with a child and kidnapping — all high-level felonies. The charges stemmed from an incident in January 2021 in which he was accused of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl at gunpoint in the back of his car.

Gibson on Tuesday pleaded no contest to aggravated indecent liberties with a child and criminal threat as a part of a plea agreement with the District Attorney’s Office.

Judge Stacey Donovan told Gibson, who was represented by attorney Cooper Overstreet, that with his criminal history he faced as much as 128 months, or about 10.5 years, in prison.

As part of the plea agreement, Senior Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Vrana made a motion to drop a child exploitation charge of possessing “media” of someone younger than 18 stemming from a different incident in which Gibson was charged in March.

As previously reported by the Journal-World, the victim testified at a preliminary hearing in November 2021 that Gibson forced her to perform sexual acts on him at gunpoint before raping her in the parking garage next to the Lawrence Public Library.

Phone messages put into evidence in the preliminary hearing showed Gibson offering to pay the victim for her silence. The victim asked for $150, and Gibson sent the money using Venmo with a note that said “apology.”

Gibson’s former girlfriend, Olivia Scott, corroborated the victim’s testimony at the preliminary hearing by providing a video made at a bar in which Gibson admitted to having had sex with the 14-year-old.

Gibson was originally arrested on July 13, 2021. He was later released from custody after he posted a $90,000 cash or surety bond.

When Judge James T. George set the bond, a prosecutor said the amount was appropriate because Gibson had “extensive criminal history.”

According to court documents, all of Gibson’s prior cases occurred when he was a minor. He was previously convicted of unlawful voluntary sexual relations and sexual battery in Douglas County’s juvenile court and sentenced to a year of intensive supervised probation.

Gibson remains free on bond and is scheduled for sentencing on June 28.