A teacher at a Waterbury high school has been arrested after allegedly sending inappropriate messages to a student, calling her his “baby girl” and asking for her photos.
Philip Hughes, 42, of Southbury, was arrested Tuesday on a charge of harmful communication with a minor, according to Connecticut State Police.
Hughes, a technical education teacher and assistant director of bands at John F. Kennedy High School, has been on administrative leave since school officials learned of the allegations on Dec. 31, Superintendent of Schools Darren Schwartz said.
“The safety and well-being of our students is a top priority. We will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement as appropriate,” Schwartz said. “Due to the ongoing investigation and personnel matters, we are unable to provide further comment.”
The mother of the victim, a 16-year-old girl, filed a complaint with the Waterbury Police Department on New Year’s Eve and told investigators that Hughes sent “inappropriate messages” to her daughter, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. She said Hughes asked her about a week ago if he could contact the girl and ask about her upcoming surgery.
The mother said Hughes later called the girl and sent her a message saying, “Call me baby girl, call me,” the warrant states. He then allegedly sent the girl screenshots of videos posted to her TikTok account, which has since been deleted, according to the search warrant affidavit. When the girl asked Hughes where he found the videos, he allegedly said he did a simple Google search, police wrote.
The mother told investigators that Hughes also allegedly sent text messages to the girl that mentioned “she was wearing a red dress and a cat costume,” according to the search warrant affidavit. She said the girl became afraid and deleted all messages and phone calls with Hughes, the search warrant affidavit states.
State police took over the investigation nearly a month after the charges were reported. A detective with the agency’s West Precinct Major Crimes Unit took all of the evidence collected by Waterbury police, including a forensic examination of the girl’s cell phone by investigators with the consent of the girl’s mother.
Authorities were able to retrieve messages Hughes sent the girl but were unable to recover outgoing messages sent by the teen, the search warrant affidavit said. In a series of messages sent in the early morning hours of Dec. 27, Hughes allegedly referred to the teen as a “baby girl” multiple times and mentioned tucking her in and kissing her forehead, according to a search warrant affidavit.
“”K. So, is it appropriate next time? ” he allegedly wrote in an email, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
“On your clothes?” he allegedly asked in another message, the arrest warrant affidavit states. “Feel free to share images like this.”
“Is that a harvest? No clothes?” Hughes also allegedly asked the girl, according to the search warrant affidavit.
Hughes also allegedly asked the teen if he would believe he “had other personal information,” according to the search warrant affidavit.
“Do you have any other pictures from your vacation?” he allegedly asked in another message, the arrest warrant affidavit states.
“Hey kid, sleep well. Hope to hear from you soon, baby girl,” Hughes said in a message sent just after 4 a.m., according to the search warrant affidavit.
Hughes also allegedly mentioned hugging the girl and tucking her in, according to the search warrant affidavit. He allegedly called the girl twice between 4:54 and 5:19 a.m. and texted her days later saying he realized he had “pocket dialed” her, the arrest warrant affidavit states.
The mother told police that Hughes contacted her on Jan. 12 and told her he had been given a new cell phone number, according to the search warrant affidavit.
Eight days later, the teen gave a statement to police saying Hughes initially contacted her over winter break to wish her a Merry Christmas. She said he then allegedly began asking if he was more than a teacher to her and insisted she was more than a student to him.
The girl said Hughes also allegedly pressured her to not trust him and called her a “baby girl,” according to the search warrant affidavit. She became “even more disturbed” when he discovered screenshots of deleted videos on her TikTok account, police wrote, and she couldn’t understand why anyone would “deliberately seek out photos of her on the internet, let alone an adult directly supervising her at school.”
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Hughes refused to speak with investigators on Jan. 21 and never responded to a voicemail police left him a day later.
Hughes was held on $50,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in Waterbury Superior Court on March 3.
