CONNERSVILLE, Ind. — A former volunteer firefighter for the Milton Fire Department has been charged with eleven counts of child sex crimes.
Bryce Allan Gibbs, 23, of Batesville faces five felony charges of child exploitation with an aggravating factor found, another five felony charges of child exploitation with the intent to knowingly or intentionally manage, produce, sponsor or present such content and an additional felony charge of possession of child pornography.
According to recently released court documents, on June 19, investigators with the Connersville Police Department were given a tip about possible child sex abuse material being traded using a Discord account.
Court documents describe the images in graphic detail. Discord reportedly gave police the account's information, including the username, email and phone number connected to the account. Internet search warrants were also issued, which confirmed to police an additional 13 images or videos depicting child sex abuse material had been uploaded by the account.
The phone number was searched in police department records and turned up a match to Bryce Allan Gibbs. Gibbs' alleged account was also found to have been accessed from the same IP address and was accessed using an iPhone 11.
Investigators were able to match several clues to Gibbs, including noting his personal email address was "firefighter4life2001," which matches his previous occupation and year of birth.
Additionally, the investigation turned up information that Gibbs had begun a relationship last year with a 17-year-old girl. At the time the relationship started, Gibbs would have been 22, according to court documents.
Court documents say Gibbs lived with his parents and the house was granted a search warrant on Aug. 29. During the search, police reportedly seized an iPhone 11, an Apple Watch, a flash drive, an external hard drive, an Xbox and a computer tower.
Police also spoke to the mother of Gibbs' 17-year-old girlfriend, who allegedly told police she had no idea Gibbs was "into anything like that" and that she had access to everything on Gibbs' phone. The mother said that her daughter had turned 18 in July and that Gibbs and her daughter's one-year anniversary had just occurred.
After being read his Miranda rights in a police interview room, Gibbs reportedly waived his right to counsel and answered police questions.
Court documents say Gibbs told police his relationship with the 17-year-old had reached one year on the day of his arrest. He told police he "knew it looked bad," but insisted that his girlfriend's mother was OK with the relationship.
Gibbs allegedly confirmed to police that he was the owner of the Discord account and that he used a throwaway email address to make the account. Gibbs also allegedly told police that he used the throwaway email for pornography and confirmed his Discord account was the source of the child sex abuse material.
Court documents go on to say that Gibbs allegedly told police he became interested in child porn about five years ago and had not viewed it "in a while" prior to his arrest. He allegedly told police his Discord account was shut down and that he was notified law enforcement had begun legal proceedings.
Gibbs also allegedly told police he was disgusted by the material, but said there was a part of him that enjoyed it. Court documents say he allegedly confirmed to police that he had sought the material out and had become sexually aroused by it.
According to court documents, Gibbs told police files containing child porn were hidden on his iPhone using what appeared to be a calculator app, but was actually an app that stored hidden content. He also allegedly told police he had images and videos of his girlfriend in his possession from before she turned 18, but did not distribute that content to anyone.
Police say the storage app on Gibbs' iPhone featured folders labeled "cp," meaning "child porn."
In total, court documents say Gibbs was in possession of 31 images and 16 videos of child sex abuse material and had produced child porn with his girlfriend prior to her 18th birthday.
