A former University of Connecticut instructor and researcher has been arrested on child pornography charges.
UConn police arrested 38-year-old Jason Gibson, of Glastonbury, Thursday.
According to the arrest warrant, the investigation began when the FBI received an online tip claiming that Gibson was in possession of child porn. The tipster told investigators that he was inside a chat room called “Sweet Children” on Whatsapp, an online chatting app. The tipster sent along a conversation they claimed was copied from the app and links to the chat.
The tip was passed along to UConn on July 14, and the investigation began. Police found the conversations in the group to contain pornographic images. Police also traced a phone number that was sharing links in the group and found that it was associated with Gibson, according to the warrant.
Gibson admitted to downloading child porn and videos on his phone during an interview with police, according to the warrant. Gibson also turned over his phone and allowed investigators to view the contents of an application he used to store the porn. There were over 20,000 images and over 100 videos in the application, some showing children that appeared as young as 7 or 8.
Gibson was charged with first-degree possession of child pornography.
A UConn spokesperson confirmed Gibson’s arrest. Gibson was an instructor and researcher in molecular and cell biology at UConn, but his contract ended before the investigation commenced.
