SANTA MONICA—After his arrest in October, registered sex offender Richard Gibbons plead guilty on November 9 to viewing child pornography at Santa Monica’s Main Street Library, and has been sentenced to four years in state prison.

Richard Gibbons

On October 1, a library services officer at 2601 Main St. witnessed Gibbons viewing child pornography, which elicited an undercover investigation where on October 9 he was arrested by an undercover officer. The 56-year-old was previously arrested in November 2010 for stalking a young child, putting him on California’s registered sex offender list.

According to penal code section 311.11(a), if one is found guilty of a second violation of one of its subdivisions, the accused must be punished by imprisonment by at least two years. Its subdivisions include the prohibition of possessing or controlling “any matter, representation of information, data, or image, including, but not limited to, any film, filmstrip, photograph, negative, slide, photocopy, videotape, video laser disc, computer hardware, computer software, computer floppy disc, data storage media, CD-ROM, or computer-generated equipment or any other computer-generated image that contains or incorporates in any manner, any film or filmstrip, the production of which involves the use of a person under the age of 18 years, knowing that the matter depicts a person under the age of 18 years personally engaging in or simulating sexual conduct.”

Gibbons was charged for being in control of child pornography. Upon investigation of his previous arrest, officers found knit gloves and duct tape in the offender’s home.

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