Police in Australia discovered a series of child sexually abusive videos featuring a young child that are now linked to a Detroit man, Homeland Security Investigators said.
Molik Lashond Phillips, 20, is accused of sexual exploitation of a minor, distribution of child pornography and possession or access with intent to view child pornography, according to a federal complaint.
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The case goes back to April 2026, when investigators with the HSI Cyber Crimes Center’s Child Exploitation Investigations Unit Victim Identification Lab said they received a referral from the Queensland Police Service in Australia. The referral allegedly involved a child who appeared in a series of sexually exploitative videos in Interpol’s International Child Exploitation databases.
Within that series, investigators said they found “approximately 56 image files and 21 video files” depicting the sexual abuse of the child, who “appears to be approximately three to five years old.” HSI reviewed the series in the Interpol database in April and received information about where it previously surfaced, the feds said.
Tracing the videos to Michigan
The videos had allegedly been circulated on multiple platforms, including a group chat on the cloud-based instant messaging app ‘Potato Chat’ and, in March of 2026, in a group chat on the encrypted app ‘Signal.’
“The videos were distributed in a group chat named ‘Only toddlers,’” a Special Agent said, adding that the identities of the users who shared them were unknown to law enforcement at the time.
Investigators then said clues inside the videos suggested they may have been created in Michigan -- specifically, in southeast Michigan -- by someone later identified as Phillips.
In one video, court records show, a child is wearing a t-shirt with specific words and images on it. Investigators said the shirt appeared to be associated with spring running event in Dearborn.
A third video, the feds said, showed an adult male’s face and described him as wearing “a brace on one wrist, and a hospital patient wristband on the other.”
Tracking down Phillips
Using the wristband information, investigators said they contacted the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, and that then “led to the patient Molik Phillips.”
Records then showed Phillips was at Detroit Receiving Hospital around January 16, 2025, and later was a patient at the Henry Ford Emergency Room around January 21, 2025.
Investigators then said they located Michigan Secretary of State records for Phillips and compared his driver’s license photo to the adult male in the third video -- allegedly confirming it was a match.
HSI then found an image of a child who looked like the child victim, according to the complaint. Federal investigators said they were able to zoom in on the possible identity of the toddler, then obtained federal search warrants around June 5, 2026. The warrants were executed that same day.
The search of Phillips’ home
At Phillips’ home, HSI agents arrested Phillips. When they searched his home, agents said they found multiple electronic devices in Phillips’ bedroom, including an unlocked iPhone. During a preview of the iPhone, investigators said they found the encrypted messaging app Telegram. There, the feds said they uncovered conversations in which Phillips “appears to distribute child pornography videos to other users.”
Law enforcement could not play the videos at the time, but thumbnails allegedly depicted child sexually abusive material, and appeared to show “toddlers and other prepubescent-aged children.”
Investigators also looked in the phone’s photo gallery and found “several files of child pornography,” according to the complaint. Again, investigators said videos could not be played at the time, but thumbnails depicted child sexually abusive material and metadata suggested “many of the videos” were downloaded from Telegram.
Phillips was temporarily detained and remains in jail. A detention hearing was scheduled for Phillips on June 10, 2026, but records show it was postponed.