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Man convicted in 2009 Virginia Beach school bomb threat now arrested on child porn charges

Philip Bay was convicted in 2010 of plotting an attack on Landstown High School in Virginia Beach on the 10th anniversary of Columbine mass shooting.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The man convicted of plotting to blow up Landstown High School in Virginia Beach more than a decade ago was arrested Thursday morning on child pornography charges.

According to the Virginia Beach Police Department, Philip Bay faces 20 charges of child pornography, but the circumstances that led to his arrest weren't shared.

As a teenager, Bay was convicted in 2010 after investigators uncovered a plot to carry out a violent attack at Landstown High School. It was planned to happen in 2009, on the 10th anniversary of the deadly 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.

During a search of Bay and two teenage co-conspirators, police found two sawed-off shotguns, a list targeting Landstown students, and videos of the teens allegedly talking about the attack, prosecutors said.

Police also found Molotov cocktails and pipe bombs in Bay's home.

Credit: WVEC
Philip Bay sits in court on November 15, 2010, during court proceedings related to a plot to blow up Landstown High School in Virginia Beach.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for that conspiracy. He spent two years in a juvenile facility before being transferred to prison at age 21.

At the time of his sentencing in 2011, Bay told a judge he couldn't explain why he wanted to carry out the attack. His mother told 13News Now she didn't think he would actually do it.

"I can only go by what my heart tells me," she said in 2011. "And that is, my son would not have had the gumption, for lack of a better word, gumption to go through with it."

Public officials have released very limited information about the new charges filed against Bay, but 13News Now is working to learn more. Check back for updates.

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