Gilford man pleads guilty to child pornography charges

CONCORD — Phillip R. Andrews, 80, of Sargent Place, Gilford, pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court to a charge of transportation of child pornography.

Andrews was charged with using his cellular phone to produce sexually explicit images of a child under age 18, “on or about June 13, 2016,” and uploading the images to his social media accounts, according to court records.

Local police involved in the investigation reserved comment on the case prior to sentencing, which is scheduled to take place on April 28.

Andrews also is facing an aggravated felonious sexual assault charge in Belknap County. Superior Court documents show that Andrews plans to enter a negotiated guilty plea on that charge, which alleges that, between April 1 and June 14, 2016, Andrews sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl, who was celebrating her birthday around that time.

In a police affidavit filed with the court, Gilford Detective Stephen Kessler reported speaking to the victim and learning that Andrews had shared images of the assault on Facebook Messenger. Working with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, authorities were able to retrieve two images which had been deleted from the account.

According to the affidavit, when police questioned Andrews about the incident, he admitted his guilt.

The terms of the negotiated plea, if the judge accepts them, would result in a 10- to 20-year sentence to the New Hampshire State Prison, with three years of the minimum sentence suspended upon completion of a federal sexual offender treatment program. The remaining time would be served concurrently with the federal sentence.

U.S. Attorney Scott W. Murray, in announcing the guilty plea in federal court, said, “Protecting the innocence of children is a top priority for federal law enforcement agencies. Those who create, transport or distribute child pornography do grave harm to the victims who are portrayed in these images.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations of Boston joined the New Hampshire Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Gilford Police Department in the investigation of the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cam Le prosecuted the case.

Jason Molina, Homeland Security Investigations’ acting special agent in charge, said in a statement that, “The conduct of Mr. Andrews will never be tolerated in any way, shape or form. The protection of innocent minors will always be an investigative priority of HSI. Investigations like this are a prime example of our public safety mission.”