NEW BOSTON, Texas: A man arrested almost 10 years ago for exposing himself to a teen girl at a Texarkana, Texas, bus stop pleaded guilty Monday and received a 10-year prison sentence.
Danny Joe Gipson, 47, appeared before 5th District Judge Bill Miller at the Bowie County courthouse in New Boston with Texarkana attorney Shorty Barrett on Monday afternoon. Gipson was set for jury selection Tuesday on a charge of indecency with a child by exposure but opted to make an open plea of guilty to the court.
At the beginning of the hearing, Assistant District Attorney Katie Carter made a motion to withdraw enhancements for arson and burglary convictions listed in Gipson’s indictment which could have increased the punishment he faced from a maximum of 10 years to a maximum of life in prison. With the enhanced punishment off the table, Gipson entered a plea of guilty to the charge.
“I’m guilty,” Gipson said. “I’m sorry and I mean it.”
According to court records, Gipson was spotted on multiple days parked near a Texarkana, Texas, bus stop where a 13-year-old girl often met a cousin to ride a bus home after school. The girl was walking to the stop when she saw Gipson pleasuring himself with his genitals exposed as he shouted sexual remarks to her in December 2009.
Several days later the girl saw the car again and took down the license plate. A woman who worked at a Texarkana, Texas, business, reported that Gipson exposed himself to her as she was walking to her car after work. She recorded Gipson’s plate number and reported it to police.
The delay in Gipson’s case was partly due to a prison sentence he served in Arkansas for theft. In 2013, the case was set for trial when Gipson, free on bail at the time, failed to show.
Gipson received credit for more than a year of time he has spent behind bars while the indecency case was pending.
