photo by: Mugshot courtesy of the Kansas Sex Offender Registry

Trey Gibson is pictured with the Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

A Douglas County judge is weighing the fate of a man she sentenced to probation last year for a child sex crime after witnesses testified this week that the man had been propositioning teens in the workplace and had been kicked out of sex-offender treatment.

The man, Trey Gibson, 22, of Lawrence, was convicted of indecent liberties with a child and criminal threat after pleading no contest to the crimes in April of 2022. Gibson’s plea agreement with the state saw felony charges of rape, kidnapping, aggravated criminal sodomy, and possession of child pornography dismissed as part of the plea, as the Journal-World reported.

Gibson was bound over for trial after a girl testified in November of 2021 that when she was 14 Gibson reached out to her to smoke marijuana together. But when they met in North Lawrence, he allegedly demanded that she get in his car, drove her to a parking garage and sexually assaulted her.

Judge Stacey Donovan sentenced Gibson to 120 months for the indecent liberties charge and six months for the criminal threat charge, for a total of 10.5 years. Gibson’s prison sentence was more severe for the midlevel indecent liberties charge as he has a significant felony juvenile record, according to court records.

Donovan granted a departure from that sentence to five years of probation after Gibson’s adoptive father, Roger Gibson, testified at Gibson’s sentencing about Gibson’s traumatic childhood. The state has appealed the probation sentence.

On Thursday, Gibson’s sex-offender treatment counselor, probation officer and a former co-worker of Gibson’s testified at a probation violation hearing.

Gibson was enrolled at an area sex-offender treatment center, Clinical Associates in Lenexa, pursuant to an evaluation he was given after sentencing.

His counselor, Christine Lopez, testified that Gibson was “minimally involved, superficial and very aggressive” during his treatment. She said that he was regularly disruptive during group therapy and the treatment was not beneficial to Gibson because he refused to “engage in an open and honest manner.”

Lopez said Gibson attended sessions twice a month between September of 2022 through August of 2023, when he was kicked out. Gibson recommended that he continue to seek treatment when he is willing to engage in a meaningful way.

She said his discharge came after a meeting involving her, Gibson and Gibson’s probation officer, Catherine Darrah.

Darrah had reported to Lopez that Gibson was working at a Lawrence restaurant alongside teenagers. Lopez said that Darrah reported that Gibson was sending text messages with “inappropriate propositions to minors at work.”

During the meeting Lopez said that Gibson was responsive and acknowledged that his behavior was showing signs of risk factors associated with criminal sex behavior, but when Lopez tried to address the behavior during a therapy session, Gibson claimed he had done nothing wrong and was just “flirting.”

The state, represented by Assistant District Attorney Brian Deiter, on Thursday called a teen girl from the restaurant to testify about Gibson’s behavior.

She testified that she worked with Gibson for a couple of weeks, but when Deiter asked the girl what it was like to work with Gibson, his attorney, Cooper Overstreet, objected to the questioning, and the girl’s testimony then stipulated to the fact that Gibson had failed to maintain employment. The girl was then dismissed from the stand but is still under subpoena and may be asked to testify at a later hearing, Deiter said.

Lopez said that between Gibson’s disregard of his risk factors in connection with the text messages at work and his aggressive behavior during group sessions she could no longer allow Gibson to attend treatment.

Overstreet asked Lopez whether she had read a full report about Gibson’s mental health history that included his diagnosis for PTSD from his childhood and a recommendation for individual over group therapy from a psychological evaluation he received prior to sentencing.

Lopez said she has reviewed many of Gibson’s records and has discussed Gibson’s diagnosis with Gibson but that she didn’t recall any specific recommendations from any older report and she relied on the most current evaluation that recommended treatment.

Gibson’s probation officer, Darrah, testified that Gibson had violated four conditions of his probation for failing to report as directed, numerous positive drug screens, failing to maintain employment or student status, and failing to complete his recommended sex-offender treatment.

Darrah said that she has tested Gibson for drugs 44 times throughout his probation, and he has tested positive for THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, 28 times and tested positive for cocaine once. She said she hasn’t tested Gibson recently because he has begun admitting to using drugs, which is sufficient to list as a violation. She said Gibson had not reported to probation as directed three times.

Overstreet said that Gibson has been reporting three times a week since he has been on probation, has completed 200 hours of community service, has not made any contact with his victim, and is engaging in drug treatment, all of which are conditions of his probation that he has complied with. Overstreet added that Gibson has been subject to GPS monitoring for the majority of his probation.

Throughout the hearing, Gibson could be seen at times falling asleep and crying while witnesses testified. The hearing was attended by his father and a few members of the family’s church who could be heard saying “we’re in this together” and “we’re a family.”

Donovan said she would rule on the alleged probation violations and the potential punishment on Dec. 15.

Donovan has a range of sanctions she could impose, including ordering Gibson to county jail, ordering him to additional treatment, or revoking his probation and ordering him to serve his full sentence, according to state law.

Gibson is currently free on a $15,000 own-recognizance bond, meaning he was not required to pay any money to be released from jail after he was arrested for violating his probation.