Registered Sex Offender in Morris County Found Guilty of Showing Genitals to Cop

A Morristown man and member of the United States Merchant Marines was convicted Thursday of exposing his genitals to an undercover detective during an online chat session, Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman announced.

Thomas Phillips, 34, a registered sex offender, was found guilty in Morris County Court of third-degree charges of attempting to endanger the welfare of a child and attempting to transmit obscene materials to a person under 18 years old, Hoffman said. The trial lasted one week.

Testimony during the trial stated Phillips engaged in a 17-minute chat session on Feb. 24, 2010, with a Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office detective he believed to be a 13-year-old girl. During the session, Phillips laid on his bed completely naked and exposed himself three times to the detective, Hoffman said.

Phillips initiated the conversation, and despite apologizing to the recipient of the first showing of his genitals, did so twice more, Hoffman said.

During the time of the crime Phillips was on probation from a prior conviction for a similar incident in 2006, when he was caught in an online law enforcement sting, Hoffman said. He was sentenced in Sept. 2007 to three years probation on a charge of attempted criminal sexual contact for instructing an undercover police detective who was posing as an underage girl to touch herself sexually, Hoffman said. 

Each charge carries a sentence of three to five years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000. Phillips is scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 22.