A Sharp County man who police say repeatedly assaulted a runaway teenager and kept her locked in a shed for six days has been charged with three counts of rape, kidnapping and trafficking, authorities said.
Jacob M. Gibson, 22, of Cave City, is being held in the Sharp County jail in Ash Flat in lieu of a $100,000 bond set by Sharp County District Judge Kevin King, Sheriff Mark Counts said.
Sharp County deputies arrested Gibson at his Brickle Springs Road home Sept. 4 after his mother, Rossann Gibson, told police she received a "frantic" phone call from the 17-year-old girl, who was living with Jacob Gibson and his mother. She said she rushed home and found her son and the girl both locked in a shed behind the home.
Rossann Gibson said she persuaded her son to open the shed door, and the girl ran outside toward her car, Sharp County Deputy Cody Bailey wrote in an arrest affidavit filed in Sharp County Circuit Court.
The mother told the girl it was not right "for anyone to keep anyone else as a sex slave," Cody wrote in the affidavit.
The girl said Jacob Gibson, whom the girl referred to as her "boyfriend," had accused her of seeing another man Aug. 30.
"Gibson flew into a rage, accusing [the girl] of cheating on him," Bailey wrote in the affidavit.
Bailey said Gibson threw the girl into the shed and struck her face and sides with his fists, the affidavit said.
"I could choke the pretty little sparkle from your eyes," Gibson told the girl, according to the affidavit.
The only thing the girl was allowed to say to Gibson while in the shed, Bailey's affidavit said, was "What can I do to make you happy, Daddy?"
Gibson also threatened to "cut her into tiny pieces and scatter her throughout the woods if she couldn't be faithful" to him, the affidavit said.
Bailey said in the affidavit that the 17-year-old was a runaway from Washington state who met Gibson several months ago when Gibson traveled west to visit his father. She was living "on the street," Bailey said, and she went to Arkansas with Gibson.
According to the affidavit, Gibson sexually assaulted the girl several times while she was kept in the shed.
Bailey said the girl became "physically ill" when she was interviewed about her ordeal.
Rossann Gibson told Bailey that her son had been diagnosed with psychological problems and often used methamphetamine. He tested positive for the drug when arrested, Bailey said.
The sheriff said Jacob Gibson had been arrested previously for a variety of misdemeanors and drug-related offenses.
State Desk on 09/17/2016