Former coach gets 9 years for possession of child pornography

The longtime friend of a suspected boogaloo member was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to more than nine years in prison for one count of possession of child pornography.

Phillip Merrill, 36, will serve that sentence at the same time as his current sentence of 30 years to life for sexually assaulting the friend’s teenage stepdaughter.

Merrill is a friend of alleged boogaloo member Stephen Parshall, who also has been charged with sexually assaulting the stepdaughter. Both men are in custody.

“I accept full responsibility for everything that’s happened,” Merrill told U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro through a videoconference hearing. “If there’s anything I can take back in my life, it would be these things.”

Under the terms of his guilty plea agreement, Merrill must participate in a sex-offense-specific treatment program and gambling and substance abuse treatment.

“I’m not sentencing Mr. Merrill for his conduct with the minor. That’s been done in state court,” Navarro said. “I’m just focusing on these photos and videos, which were deeply disturbing and shocking materials. That anybody would be looking at them — let alone deriving pleasure from them — is beyond comprehensible.”

Both the state and federal cases came to light in June, when a 13-year-old girl told police that Merrill, whom police once described as a convention worker and girls volleyball club coach, had sexually assaulted her from the time she was 8 until she was 11.

Her outcry led investigators to review a 2017 investigation tip that Merrill had possessed hundreds of child pornography images in his Dropbox account. Officials found 30,128 images in his possession. One of the files depicted an infant child.

During the hearing, Merrill’s defense attorney, Stephen Immerman, said his client is remorseful for the pain he inflicted on all the victims in the case and requested contact with his baby daughter once she is born.

Merrill served in the Navy as a combat medic and was sent to Iraq. When he returned, he used alcohol and gambling to escape the horrors of war, Immerman said.

“With the combination of alcohol, gambling and being diagnosed with PTSD by the VA, he acted on that proclivity,” his attorney said. “He’s a very sick person. And he acted on that. And for that, he’s going to pay for at least 30 years of his life.”

Navarro also ordered that after Merrill is released, he will be supervised for another 25 years. A restitution hearing was set for April 21.

“Good luck to you, sir,” the judge said.

Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Follow @ByBrianaE on Twitter.