Previously Convicted Sex Offender Sentenced to 15 Years in Federal Prison for Receipt of Child Pornography

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Paul Anthony Philip III, age 38, of Millersville, Maryland to 15 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for receipt of child pornography.  As part of his sentence, the Court has ordered Philip to pay $9,000 in restitution.  Judge Blake also ordered that, upon his release from prison, Philip must continue to register as a sex offender in the places where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”). 

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; and Special Agent in Charge Thomas J. Sobocinski of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Baltimore Field Office.

According to his plea agreement, Philip was previously convicted of possession of child pornography in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland in 2015.  As a result of his conviction, Philip was sentenced to 48 months imprisonment followed by 15 years of supervised release.  The conditions of Philip’s supervised release prohibited him from using any computers or internet-capable devices without the approval of the United States Probation and Pretrial Services.  He was also forbidden from installing activity monitoring software or hardware. 

After Philip’s release from federal custody in January 2019, Philp signed a monitoring agreement in which he agreed to waive any expectations of privacy from the probation officer and the computer monitoring software.  Further, Philip agreed that he would not view, subscribe to, download, or transmit any content in any medium, in violation of state or federal laws or in violation of his conditions of his supervised release.  He was then given a prepaid phone that was approved by the U.S. probation officer that contained monitoring software.

On five separate instances in 2021, Philip failed to report for sex offender treatment including mental health and substance abuse therapy sessions, as required by the conditions of his supervised release.  Further, Philip’s probation officer (USPO) contacted the manger of his sober living residence and was informed that Philip did not comply with the rules and polices of his sober living house and often utilized smart devices.  Upon inspection of Philip’s bedroom, the USPO discovered an unauthorized tablet under Philip’s pillow.  The tablet was then confiscated by the USPO.

On April 12, 2021, the USPO asked Philip if there was any child pornography on the unauthorized tablet.  Philip declined to answer any questions regarding the tablet.  The next day, the USPO confiscated Philip’s USPO-approved cell phone.  Ultimately, Philip falsely informed the USPO that he had not viewed images of child pornography.

As stated in his guilty plea, Philip’s tablet and cell phone were searched pursuant to federal search warrants and were found to contain numerous images of child pornography including approximately 282 images and 206 videos depicting the sexual abuse of children, including an infant.

Examination of the data stored on Philip’s tablet showed that the device was logged into an email account created in February 2021.  The same email account received an email from a website widely used by individuals to view child pornography.  The email confirmed Philip’s registration of an account on a child pornography website under the username “live4kidlove”.  Philip used the same email account to distribute and receive links to files depicting the sexual abuse of children in exchange for other images of child pornography. 

United States Attorney Erek L. Barron praised the FBI for their work in the investigation.  Mr. Barron thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Judson T. Mihok, who prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.  For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the "Resources" tab on the left of the page.

For more information on the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, its priorities, and resources available to help the community, please visit www.justice.gov/usao-md/project-safe-childhood and https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.

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