A civilian living on the base at Fort Carson was sentenced Wednesday to 45 years in prison on numerous charges, including whipping a woman with a coaxial cable that he made her retrieve for him before each assault.
Mitchell Lee Gibson, 30, was convicted of assault resulting in serious bodily injury, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault of a spouse by strangling and suffocation. After the whippings, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Gibson would choke the victim with the cable until she blacked out, and then pour boiling hot water on her stomach, groin and leg to revive her.
“The level of Mitchell Gibson’s violence and his cruelty toward family members during these assaults are shocking,” said Special Agent in Charge Thomas P. Ravenelle of the FBI, which also investigated the case.
According to the stipulated facts contained in the plea agreement, on March 25, 2014 at about 9:45 p.m., Fort Carson Police officers responded to a 911 call from a victim who explained that Gibson had assaulted her. Responding officers immediately saw significant injuries and called for medical assistance. She told officers that Gibson was under the influence of alcohol and prescription medication, and that he threatened to hurt her and a child.
While at the hospital, doctors determined that the female victim had two black eyes, scratches and extensive bruising on her face, arms, chest, shoulders, torso, hips and legs. She had red marks on her arms and throat, and injuries from whipping on her back, torso and legs.
She had a bite mark on the back of her next and blood from a laceration on her ear. She had second degree burns covering her stomach, groin, right arm and right leg. She also had two open blisters from the burns. All of this while she was 9 weeks pregnant.
Gibson pleaded guilty in February; following his prison sentence, he will serve three years on supervised release.
