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Philip Frost, formerly of Waterbury, will spend at least 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography following a conviction for a child exploitation offense.
U.S. Attorney John Durham said that in March 2016, Frost was convicted in state court of possessing child pornography.
On October 1 last year, while Frost was on special parole and residing in a halfway house, a staff member at the halfway house discovered he was in possession of a smartphone, which was a violation of Frost’s parole conditions.
The staff member secured the phone and contacted Frost’s parole officer. Later that evening, before the parole officer arrived the next morning, Frost used another resident’s phone to delete the history of his various online messaging accounts.
The investigation into the cellphone led to the discovery of child pornography, Durham said, including images of prepubescent children being sexually abused. The photos were saved on the phone after Frost searched for them on the Internet.
According to Durham, the investigation further revealed that, between July 31, 2019 and Oct. 1, 2019, Frost engaged in sexual conduct with a 15-year-old victim.
Frost provided a cellphone to the minor so that they could communicate, and he enticed the minor victim to send him images of the minor victim engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Frost also received these images on his smartphone.
At the time of the child exploitation, Frost was on the Connecticut Sex Offender Registry.
When he is sentenced on Jan. 28, 2021, Frost, 30, will face a mandatory minimum term of 15 years and a maximum term of 40 years in prison. Durham said that the minimum and maximum prison terms were upgraded due to Frost’s criminal history.
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