A Douglas man facing 72 charges relating to child sex abuse and pornography will spend at least the next month in a San Francisco jail after he was arrested there on a fugitive warrant just hours after skipping out on a Wyoming court hearing.
John Charles Smallbone, 38, indicated Thursday that he intends to fight extradition to Wyoming to continue facing his charges in Converse County District Court.
During his first hearing in San Francisco Superior Court since his July 28 arrest by San Francisco police officers on a Wyoming felony fugitive warrant, Smallbone declined to waive extradition back to Douglas.
That’s despite signing a document June 24 when he was released from the Converse County Detention Center after someone posted a $250,000 cash bond to get him out of jail in the first place.
Signing a waiver of extradition was a condition of Smallbone being released on bond, court documents indicate. That waiver means he voluntarily gives up his right to fight extradition and agrees to be transported back to Douglas if he’s caught elsewhere.
“I hereby willingly agree and consent to place myself in the custody of any authorized Wyoming law enforcement officer and to freely return, without contest, to Converse County, Wyoming, from any jurisdiction where I may be found … to answer the charge(s) against me,” reads the waiver, which has Smallbone’s signature on it.
While Smallbone signed a waiver, that doesn’t necessarily mean he can’t fight being sent back to Wyoming anyway, said Steven Titus, a Gillette-based defense attorney.
It all depends on the other state a fugitive is being held. Some states and courts honor those waivers, while others don’t.
In Colorado last month, a Fort Collins magistrate didn’t when she allowed Smallbone out of jail on his own recognizance when picked up on another fugitive warrant.
That set the stage for him to miss his July 28 arraignment and arrest in San Francisco four hours after that hearing ended.
‘That Was Crazy’
John Gallaway writes the PredatorWatchWY Substack, where he follows developments of Wyoming cases involving alleged child abuse and exploitation crimes.
He’s followed Smallbone’s case since his arrest, and said it’s so far been unlike any case he’s followed.
“You can call him the gift that keeps on giving,” he said. “It just keeps going.”
That includes after posting a $250,000 cash bond June 24 to get out of the Converse County Detention Center and being caught last month on a fugitive warrant in Colorado. Gallaway said he was watching a livestream of that hearing and was shocked he was allowed to go free.
“That was crazy,” he said, adding that he hopes the San Francisco court “does the right thing.”
Unable to attend in person and without a video or audio option available, Gallaway found a volunteer in San Francisco to attend Smallbone’s hearing on Thursday.
It was short and to the point, he wrote.
The San Francisco Superior Court said Thursday that Smallbone admitted that he’s the person named in the Wyoming fugitive warrant, and he declined to wave extradition back to the Cowboy State.
A hearing on the extradition was set for Sept. 3, and Smallbone will remain in the San Francisco jail without bond until then, the court said.
Feared For His Life
Four hours after no-showing for his arraignment on 72 child sex and pornography charges in a Wyoming district court on July 28, Smallbone was arrested on a fugitive warrant in San Francisco.
The 38-year-old Douglas man told Judge F. Scott Peasley through his public defender that he feared for his life if he were to show up for his plea hearing.
In the meantime, it seems he was on his way to San Francisco, and was arrested by police officers there about four hours after his 3:30 p.m. hearing ended in a Douglas courtroom, according to the Converse County Sheriff’s Office.
That Smallbone had been caught twice in less than a week fleeing Wyoming and the dozens of felony charges he faces here, Converse County Sheriff Clint Becker said he hopes there isn’t a repeat of what happened in Colorado.
“That was my comment when I got called to let us know he was in custody,” the sheriff told Cowboy State Daily at the time. “Hopefully …”
After Smallbone was released in Colorado, officials in that state and Wyoming who worked to track him expressed frustration with that situation.
Kylie Masserman, a spokesperson with the Larimer County District Attorney’s Office in Colorado, told Cowboy State Daily via an emailed statement that the court had the proper documentation to hold Smallbone.
“The District Attorney’s Office strongly believes that this bond setting is dangerous and has put the communities in both Colorado and Wyoming at risk,” she said. “Giving a free pass to dangerous out-of-state offenders fleeing to Colorado sets a terrible precedent and risks further harm to the victims in the Wyoming case.”
Now that he’s been caught again, Becker said he’s confident Smallbone will be returned to Wyoming to face his charges.
And there will be more of those to face, Converse County Deputy Attorney Nate Shumway said during the July 28 hearing.
He told the judge that his office has filed amended charges against Smallbone that include the 72 he already had been hit with, plus more that he’s since picked up.
Those amended charges have so far not shown up in Smallbone’s public-facing court file.
The Charges
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).
He landed on the radar of the Converse County Sheriff’s Office after the mother of an underage girl reported concerning interactions her daughter had with Smallbone on May 9.
The girl was in a vehicle with Smallbone and others when he allegedly typed “if you suck me, I’ll lick you” on his phone and showed it to the girl, according to an affidavit of probable cause written by Peech.
“He also mouthed the words, ‘I want to see you naked,’” the affidavit says.
Smallbone later denied mouthing anything or showing the girl any messages.
That, along with other alleged disturbing interactions with the girl at Smallbone’s home that evening, started an investigation that revealed a trove of photos, videos and other child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on his electronic devices, the affidavit says.
The investigation also showed Smallbone had been convicted in 2002 of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust in Douglas County, Colorado.
He also had registered as a sex offender in Wyoming in 2014, but it was “later determined not to be required to register in Wyoming due to him being a juvenile at the time of his adjudication in Colorado,” according to the affidavit.
That was in reference to a 2001 case when Smallbone was 12 and was accused of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl, the affidavit says.
While in treatment for that incident, he disclosed he also had sexual contact with at least seven other children, and five were younger than him at the time of the sexual contact.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
