Austin Doctor Indicted in Tennessee for Sexually Exploiting Child Online

An indictment was unsealed on Friday, December 13th in the Middle District of Tennessee charging a Texas man for child sexual exploitation offenses.

According to court documents, between October 2018 and May 2019, 34-year-old Philip Taylor Sobash of Austin, then a practicing physician, engaged in an online sexually explicit relationship with Minor Victim 1, who resided in Tennessee. Sobash is no longer licensed to practice medicine in Texas. He was recently licensed in Arkansas. Sobash has lived in Austin, Texas; Augusta, GA, Batesville, AR and in several cities of South Carolina. He has co-authored several medical journals dealing with Oncology.

The online relationship for which he is accused began after they connected on a dating website that facilitates “sugar daddy” relationships. Although Minor Victim 1 represented that she was 18 when she signed up for the website, the site did not verify the age of its users. As alleged, after their communications moved to text message, Minor Victim 1 quickly informed Sobash of her true age and sent him a photo of her driver’s license, which confirmed that she was a minor.

Sobash allegedly requested that Minor Victim 1 produce and send him sexually explicit images of herself and provided her thousands of dollars in cash and gifts to entice her to do so. Over the course of more than seven months, Minor Victim 1 allegedly sent hundreds of sexually explicit photos and videos to Sobash, most of which constituted child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Although Sobash allegedly assured Minor Victim 1 that the images she sent him would remain private between them, he distributed the images online. This led to unknown persons contacting Minor Victim 1 and attempting to blackmail her to produce more CSAM.

Court filings indicate that the FBI discovered in 2024 that Minor Victim 1’s CSAM was available for sale on a publicly accessible website and was labeled with Minor Victim 1’s first and last name. The CSAM was part of a larger collection of sexually explicit images and videos of about 70 young women and girls called the “DiscreetGent” collection.

According to court documents, evidence from various sources that indicates Sobash is “DiscreetGent” and is responsible for the sexually explicit imagery found in the online collection. The court filings further allege that in addition to Minor Victim 1, at least four other victims featured in the “DiscreetGent” collection were minors at the time they created CSAM for Sobash. Sobash allegedly sent electronic payments to Minor Victim 1 and the other minor victims, sometimes with sexual comments attached, and Sobash’s Apple iCloud account contained copies of Minor Victim 1’s CSAM.

Arrest of Dr. Sobash

Sobash was arrested earlier on December 13th in the West Texas. He is charged with one count of sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of coercing a minor to engage in prostitution or unlawful sexual activity, and one count of receipt of child pornography. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years in prison and a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison on the sexual exploitation of a minor count, a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison on the coercing a minor to engage in prostitution or unlawful sexual activity count, and a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the receipt of child pornography count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

FBI Looking for Possible Victims

As mentioned above, Sobash used various monikers online, including “DiscreetGent,” “Discreet Gentleman,” “Discreet Spoiling,” “Sugar Daddy,” “Interesting Fun,” “Honest and Fun,” and “Excited Guy.” Sobash communicated with victims using phone numbers 803-XXX-1000 and 803-XXX-4400 and possibly others.

Anyone who believes they or their minor dependent was victimized by Sobash is asked to visit the following FBI website and complete a short online questionnaire: www.fbi.gov/SobashVictims.

Some Victims Signed NDA’s with Sobash

Numerous victims have settled civil lawsuits against Sobash and may be bound by non-disclosure agreements. Such agreements are likely unenforceable if designed to prevent victims from reporting crimes to law enforcement. See Cosby v. American Media, Inc., 197 F.Supp.3d 735, 740-43 (E.D. Pa. 2016). Still, if you or your minor dependent are concerned about a non-disclosure agreement, you may indicate this on the form and wait to provide more details until you receive a subpoena, which will create a legal duty to disclose information about the crime that will trump any non-disclosure agreement.

The FBI’s Child Exploitation Operational Unit is investigating the case.