Perhaps using a credit card stolen from his former landlord wasn’t the best decision for a 38-year-old Douglas man facing 72 felony charges related to allegations of sexual abuse of minors and child pornography.
That could be how law enforcement knew John Charles Smallbone, who is free from jail on his Wyoming charges after paying a $250,000 bond in cash, was in Colorado last week when he was picked up by law enforcement there on a fugitive warrant out of Converse County.
His former landlord reported to the Converse County Sheriff’s Office on July 20 that Smallbone was using his credit card without permission to run up a bill of more than $700 at a Fort Collins hotel, along with trying to order Uber rides with the same card.
Two days later on Wednesday, Larimer County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Smallbone.
Then on Thursday, a Colorado magistrate released Smallbone on his own recognizance before Wyoming authorities could come get him.
He couldn’t be held because the extradition paperwork, which Converse County Sheriff’s Office officials say was sent to Colorado in time, didn’t make it to the magistrate for the hearing.
Smallbone’s former landlord told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that the first thought he had when his credit card texted him a fraud alert was that Smallbone was trying to flee his Wyoming charges.
“When that came through, I knew it was him,” the landlord said. “I texted him and asked, ‘Are you running?’ And he said he wasn’t running, that he was in town.”
That’s when Smallbone’s former landlord said he asked a follow-up question.
“I said, ‘If you’re in town, why does the credit card say you’re in Colorado?’ That’s when he ghosted me,” he said.
About That Credit Card
That text with Smallbone telling his former landlord he was in Douglas when he was actually about 175 miles away in Colorado was the only communication the landlord said he’s had with the man since he posted the $250,000 bond.
“Until then, I hadn’t seen or heard from him since he got out of jail,” the man said. “He’s not around here, I know that. I haven’t seen him.”
The former landlord said that Smallbone had access to the credit card through a deal made with him previously.
“He owed me a lot of back rent, so we made an agreement where he didn’t have to pay rent and could work, do some jobs,” he said.
That’s what the former landlord told Converse County authorities as well, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Lt. Benjamin Peech attached to a new charge of misdemeanor credit card fraud made available by the court Monday.
“About one year prior, (the landlord) entered into an arrangement with John C. Smallbone,” the affidavit says. “This agreement was that Smallbone would perform repairs around the trailer park and (the landlord) would provide Smallbone his residence rent-free.”
The credit card was supposed to be kept in a shop on the property and available in case Smallbone needed it to make repairs around the property, Peech wrote.
All other times before last week, Smallbone would call the landlord prior to making a purchase with the card, tell him what it was for and the cost.
The landlord told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that he didn’t know Smallbone had the card.
Peech also wrote that he followed up with a hotel in Fort Collins where the credit card was used, and an employee there looked at photos of Smallbone and confirmed he used the credit card at check-in to cover incidental charges.
The same card was used to book and pay for the room through Expedia, the affidavit says.
About That $250,000
Smallbone’s former landlord emphasized that the two are not friends and only knew each other because the former was living in a trailer on the property when the latter bought it.
“He was there when I bought the property about 18 months ago,” he said. “I don’t know how long he was there overall, probably about 10 years or so, I guess.”
Like other people around Converse County he’s talked to, the landlord said he also “was totally shocked” when he learned someone walked into the Converse County Detention Center on June 24 with $250,000 cash to bond him out.
“That’s just wild,” he said. “I mean, they didn’t seem like the kind of people who have that kind of money lying around.”
It seems the Wyoming Public Defender’s Office in Converse County also would like an explanation.
Smallbone was appointed a public defender to represent him in facing the 72 felony charges because he claimed he couldn’t afford an attorney on his own, according to a motion the office filed with the court.
But after someone coughed up a quarter of a million in cash to get him out of jail, he doesn’t qualify, the motion says.
“The defendant had the ability to post two hundred fifty thousand ($250,000) dollars cash in bond,” says the motion to reconsider the court appointment. “The defendant stated on his application for court-appointed counsel he had no ability to borrow money for his legal defense.”
Smallbone also didn’t disclose on his application that he owned a business, nor list two boats as assets he could potentially sell to pay for his own lawyer, the motion says.
Finally, if Smallbone had access to that kind of money to get out of jail, he could have used that instead to hire private counsel to represent him, it says.
The public-facing court record doesn’t show a ruling on the motion to withdraw by the public defender’s office. A call to the office wasn’t returned by publication.
Will He Show Up?
The $250,000 question now is will Smallbone show up for his arraignment in Converse County District Court on Tuesday afternoon?
A call to a phone number linked to Smallbone in his court file went to voicemail. A message left for him wasn’t returned by publication.
His former landlord isn’t holding his breath.
“Yeah, I’d be pretty surprised if he was there, but I don’t know about that stuff,” he said, adding he’s also baffled about how he slipped through the Colorado court system.
“I don’t understand how that shit works, but that’s nuts,” he said. “When I first heard about (what he’s charged with) I was like, ‘That son of a bitch.’
“You would think the state of Colorado would want him off the streets, too. He needs to be locked up.”
The list of charges against Smallbone is long, including:
• 1 count of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor.
• 36 counts of possessing child pornography.
• 16 counts of using a video camera to record intimate areas of another person without consent.
• 18 counts of knowingly manufacturing, generating, or creating child pornography.
• 1 count of possessing more than 3 ounces of marijuana (1.3 pounds).
The case against Smallbone exploded when forensic examinations were performed on his cellphone and electronic devices, according to an affidavit Peech wrote to support those charges.
On them, they found dozens of images and videos depicting prepubescent girls and boys performing a wide range of sex acts, the affidavit says.
Many of the videos appear to have been created by Smallbone in rooms and spaces that are identifiable and linked to alleged potential victims.
There also were videos of Smallbone having sex with an adult female, the affidavit says, adding that the woman told investigators she had no knowledge she was on camera.
The most disturbing allegations stem from a series of at least seven videos that the affidavit reports allegedly show a young girl having her pants pulled down and being subjected to having sex with a dog.
If convicted with maximum concurrent sentences, Smallbone could face up to 791 years in prison and fines of up to $710,000.
The most serious is the sexual abuse of a minor charge, which calls for a sentence of between 25 and 50 years.
Now he can add another potential six months in jail and up to $750 in fines if convicted of credit card fraud, a misdemeanor because the amount was less than $1,000.
If he fails to appear for his Tuesday arraignment hearing in Douglas, Smallbone will forfeit the $250,000 cash that was posted for him.
He’s also wanted on another $10,000 bond relating to the credit card fraud charge, and has a $50,000 signature bound in Colorado that will be forfeited if he fails to show up for his next court hearing there on Thursday.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
