An Austin, Texas, physician will spend the next three decades behind bars after being sentenced for the sexual exploitation of seven minors. Philip Taylor Sobash, 36, received a 30-year prison sentence followed by five years of supervised release.
The federal case against Sobash traced back to online interactions between October 2018 and May 2019. According to court records, Sobash used a dating website designed to facilitate “sugar daddy” relationships to connect with a teenager living in the Middle District of Tennessee. The victim explicitly informed Sobash she was 17 years old and even sent a photo of her driver’s license to verify her age.
Despite knowing her age, Sobash sent her thousands of dollars in cash and gifts, using the money to pressure her into sending explicit photos and videos. Over a seven-month period, he received hundreds of these files.
“Philip Sobash enticed seven minors to produce and send him child sexual abuse material, and then distributed five of those minors’ sexually explicit images online,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The defendant took advantage of teenage girls. His depravity caused them long-lasting psychological trauma. The Department will pursue cases just like this to protect children from sexual exploitation.”
The investigation revealed the behavior was part of a broader pattern. Between 2017 and 2020, Sobash exploited six additional minors, all aged 16 or 17. He directed them to create explicit material and then distributed the files of five of the victims. Consequently, those images ended up being sold online under the victims’ actual names.
“Protecting children from sexual predators is among the highest priorities of our office and the Department of Justice,” said U.S. Attorney Braden H. Boucek for the Middle District of Tennessee. “Holding Sobash accountable for all of his offenses against all his victims is vitally important to the safety of children in our community and across the country.”
Multiple agencies cooperated to build the case. The FBI’s Child Exploitation Operational Unit investigated alongside FBI Nashville, the Clarksville Resident Agency, and the U.S. Secret Service. Trial Attorney Adam Braskich and Assistant U.S. Attorney Monica R. Morrison managed the prosecution.
“The FBI’s commitment to protecting children from abuse knows no bounds,” said Assistant Director Heith Janke of the FBI’s Criminal Division. “We work relentlessly with our partners to hold perpetrators of the sexual exploitation of minors to account, and others engaging in criminal activity targeting the vulnerable should take today’s sentencing as a warning that they too will be forced to face the consequences of their actions.”
The prosecution falls under Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Department of Justice initiative launched in May 2006 to coordinate federal, state, and local law enforcement resources against online child exploitation.
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