Hillsboro man sentenced in theft by deception case

A Hillsboro man accused of accepting money from individuals under indictment to “make their criminal cases go away” was sentenced this week to prison on theft by deception charges in Highland County Common Pleas Court.

Travis Gibson, 43, was indicted in July by a Highland County grand jury on three counts of theft by deception, all fifth-degree felonies. The indictment was initially made secret.

According to court documents, Gibson pleaded guilty in October to two of the counts, with the other count dismissed. All three counts alleged that in July-December 2022, Gibson “did, with the purpose to deprive” three victims, “knowingly obtain or exert control over” money belonging to the victims. 

For the two counts for which Gibson pleaded guilty, it was alleged that Gibson took $3,200 from one victim and $2,300 from another victim.

“This is essentially a case where the defendant preyed upon persons who had criminal cases pending, by claiming that he was connected to a law enforcement officer,” Highland County Assistant Prosecutor Adam King said. “The defendant was telling these people that he could make their criminal cases go away in exchange for money. There are three separate victims in this case, and in total, the defendant collected $9,000 from those three individuals. 

“Also, in the process, he essentially attempted to tarnish the reputation of a well-respected law enforcement officer.”

King asked Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss to sentence Gibson to prison. 

“This offense was committed while the defendant was on community control out of Clinton County, after he’d been granted judicial release on a felony theft conviction,” King said. “This defendant has a total of 16 prior felony convictions, primarily for theft, receiving stolen property and forgery.”

Gibson’s attorney, Kathryn Hapner, asked for community control to be imposed.

Hapner said that “it’s hard to say he’s doing better when he has 16 prior convictions, but when you look at it from his perspective, he actually was doing better.” She said Gibson was working at the time of his conviction out of Clinton County “and intends to work again upon his release,” and he also “has family support.”

Gibson told the judge that he wanted to “fully apologize for what I’ve done” and that he is “just trying to get home to my family.”

“Your Honor, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in life,” Gibson told Judge Coss. “I don’t want nobody to feel sorry for me. I had a serious gambling addiction, Your Honor. There’s a probation officer that you have up there in Highland County that finally, after 20 years that I spent behind these walls, got me help right before I got locked up.

“Everybody gets help, but mine was just a little too late.” 

Coss said that Gibson’s actions “impugned the reputation of” the law enforcement officer whom Gibson claimed could “fix” the victims’ cases, and “I think, in some part,” impacted a jury trial against one of the victims. (All three victims were eventually convicted of some or all charges in their respective cases.)

“In any event, you have a long history of stealing,” Coss told Gibson. “You’re not a dumb guy. In fact, this was a pretty creative scam that you were running on people, and it’s amazing to me that they went for it, but they did.

“You have just consistently had a problem with stealing from other people. It goes clear back to 1999.”

Coss sentenced Gibson to nine months in prison on each count, to run consecutively, for a total of 18 months in prison. Gibson was also ordered to pay $9,000 in restitution, including $3,200 to Victim 1, $3,500 to Victim 2 and $2,300 to Victim 3.

The Highland County sentence was also ordered to run consecutively to the Clinton County case. According to court records, Gibson was granted judicial release in May 2021. In November 2023, he had a 15-month prison term “reimposed,” court records show, after pleading guilty to the theft charges in Highland County. (In that case, Gibson was also ordered to pay $26,725 in restitution; as of his sentencing in November 2023, he still owed $14,000, the judgment entry said.)

Gibson is currently incarcerated in the North Central Correctional Institution, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.