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Durham man pleads guilty to child porn charges, sentenced to 12 years

A Durham man who pleaded guilty to transportation of child pornography earlier this year will spend 12 years in prison, according to the United States Attorney's Office.

Posted Updated
Phillip Stallings, child porn
By
Sarah Krueger
, WRAL reporter
DURHAM, N.C. — A Durham man who pleaded guilty to transportation of child pornography earlier this year will spend 12 years in prison, according to the United States Attorney's Office.

Philip Stephen Stallings, 41, of Durham, pleaded guilty on June 9 to one count of transportation of child pornography. He was sentenced to 150 months of imprisonment followed by 15 years of supervised release and was ordered to pay a total of $17,000 in restitution to five victims.

Stallings was arrested at his home in June by Durham County deputies as part of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigation.

"[It's] part of an investigation across the nation right now for possession of child pornography and creation of child pornography," Durham County Assistant District Attorney Kendra Montgomery-Blinn said during a brief court hearing Thursday morning. "They had information that Mr. Stallings was sharing his materials on a social media platform."

Authorities searched his computer and found sexually explicit images, Montgomery-Blinn said. The search is ongoing, and more charges could be filed, she added.

"It’s kind of disturbing," said Sekia Pegram, who said she saw investigators at Stallings' home on Wednesday. "That’s a lot [of charges], and this is a pretty decent, quiet neighborhood."

Neighbor Lynn Karatz agreed, calling the criminal case "very shocking."

"This is a nice neighborhood.," Karatz said. "I’m sorry there’s one bad apple."

Pegram has a 1-year-old and said many children play in the neighborhood. Living near Stallings makes her "kind of uneasy," she said.

"Is he in jail? He is. OK," she said.

A judge raised Stallings' bond from $341,000 to $500,000 because of the number of charges against him and the nature of the charges. If Stallings posts bond, he is prohibited from any contact with children and from using any computers or other devices that would allow him to collect any photos or videos.

Stallings was convicted of several offenses between 1996 and 2008, including assault on a female, false imprisonment, credit card fraud, theft, assault on an officer and impaired driving, according to state Department of Public Safety records.

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