Billerica Man Pleads Guilty to Sexual Exploitation of Children

BOSTON – A Billerica man pleaded guilty today in federal court in Boston to sexually exploiting two young boys over a five and a half year period.

Philip Toronto, 43, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of children. U.S. District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV scheduled sentencing for Feb. 15, 2018.

On Feb. 28, 2017, a search warrant was executed at Toronto’s home in response to multiple CyberTips that tracked the trade of child pornography over Skype to Toronto’s Billerica address. The search revealed evidence of child pornography during a preliminary on-scene review. Law enforcement confronted Toronto with evidence that some of the child pornography appeared to be homemade, and Toronto admitted to filming his sexual abuse of two young boys: a five-year-old boy as recently as September 2016; and a 10-year-old boy a few years earlier. More extensive forensic review of the devices seized from the home revealed surreptitious recordings of the children in various stages of undress as well as videos and images of Toronto raping and indecently assaulting each of the boys.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Shelly Binkowski, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and the Massachusetts State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force made the announcement today. This case was investigated in conjunction with the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office, which indicted Toronto for the rape and assault of both boys. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anne Paruti, Weinreb’s Project Safe Childhood Coordinator and a member of his Major Crimes Unit, is prosecuting the case.