U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Western District of Texas
Johnny Sutton, U.S. Attorney

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 6, 2008

WACO BUSINESSMAN SENTENCED ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CHARGES

United States Attorney Johnny Sutton announced that in Waco, 50-year-old Phillip Warren Roberts was sentenced yesterday by United States District Judge Walter Smith, Jr., to 15 years in federal prison. He will not begin to serve his federal sentence until he completes the two twenty-year prison sentences imposed in state court which resulted from a state prosecution of indecency with a child. In the state prosecution, he was originally given a sentence of deferred adjudication but that was revoked and the two twenty-year sentences were imposed upon learning of his probation violation.

Earlier this year, Roberts plead guilty to federal conspiracy to produce child pornography charges. October 13, 2003, officers with the Waco Police Department were contacted by a McLennan County Probation Officer regarding a possible violation of the defendant’s conditions of probation. An investigation began and the defendant’s computers were seized from his house in Waco. During the investigation, several search warrants were executed at other Waco addresses where he lived, as well as his business, Century Alpha, an Internet service provider, located in Waco, Texas.

During the investigation and analysis of the computers, forensic examiners discovered evidence that Roberts was communicating through computer “chats” with an individual in Pennsylvania regarding child pornography and a minor female victim. The computer chat sessions between the defendant and females of various ages include stories of adults having sex with children. In these chats, the defendant expressed an interest in having sex with minor females. Some of the logs and files consist of conversations between Roberts and a woman in Pennsylvania whereby that woman asks for Roberts to send her money. In exchange, Roberts requested that she send him child pornography pictures of her two-year-old daughter. Authorities in Pennsylvania arrested the mother and she was also prosecuted in federal court after finding child pornography on her computer of her two-year-old daughter.

Additionally, the defendant’s computer was found to contain over 47,000 images of child pornography and 679 child pornography videos. Over 1500 of the images are of known child pornography victims. This Project Safe Childhood case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Waco Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Greg Gloff prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

Project Safe Childhood (PSC) aims to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. The threat of sexual predators soliciting children for physical sexual contact is well-known and serious; the danger of the production, distribution, and possession of child pornography is equally dramatic and disturbing. The response to these growing problems must be coordinated, comprehensive, and robust. It must aim to investigate and prosecute vigorously, and protect and assist victimized children. At the same time, it must recognize the need for a broad, community-based effort to protect our children and to guarantee to future generations the opportunities of the American dream.