SKOWHEGAN — A Skowhegan man who served federal prison time more than a decade ago for distributing child pornography was back in court this week, accused of possessing more than 50,000 images and videos depicting children engaging in sexually explicit conduct with adults.
Phillip Carlo, 33, of Water Street, Skowhegan, agreed to a guilty plea with county prosecutors that will send him back to prison for five years, according to court documents. The sentence to be imposed April 3 calls for a 10-year prison sentence, with all but five years suspended, and three years’ probation.
Carlo was arrested in June on six class B felony counts of possession of child pornography. The plea agreement is for two counts of possession of sexually explicit materials depicting a minor.
Skowhegan police, along with agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and an investigator from the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office, executed a search warrant at 166 Water St. in Skowhegan and arrested Carlo on charges of illegal possession of sexually explicit material.
Police acted on a tip that Carlo was viewing illegal material on multiple devices.
The information was received from a person who saw Carlo looking at what the person believed was child pornography on his computer, then-interim police Chief Joel Cummings said in June. Because of the scope of the current case and the history of Carlo’s previous conduct, the federal authorities were brought in.
Carlo was convicted of distributing child pornography on Aug. 18, 2005, in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia. He served about 33 months on those charges, Cummings said.
In the Skowhegan case, a desktop computer and six thumb drives were analyzed by federal agents and found to contain 20,000 still images and about 500 videos of child pornography, many of them involving boys under the age of 10 engaging in sexual activities with adult men, according to court records.
Carlo allegedly told police he had been viewing child pornography since he was 13 years old and had been collecting child porn for the past seven years.
Carlo is represented by Skowhegan attorney John Martin. He could not be reached Thursday for comment on the case.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter:@Doug_Harlow
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