Sprint Responds to Allegations New Phone Contained Porn

A Sprint spokeswoman responded today to a lawsuit by a father who alleges a phone he bought from a company retail store allegedly had pornography on it that was seen by his underage son.

"This incident occurred at a retail store in Pasadena that was selling Sprint products," Stephanie Vinge Walsh of Sprint Corporate Communications said. "Sprint does not condone this behavior. The sales representatives allegedly implicated were not Sprint employees. We terminated our relationship with this dealer shortly after the incident. Our investigation into this matter continues."

Arsen Garibyan filed the lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of his son in Los Angeles Superior Court against Sprint and Nextel of California Inc. The suit alleges breach of contract, fraud, breach of the implied warranty of merchantability and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The complaint also alleges the phone was used rather than new, as Garibyan thought.

According to the complaint, Garibyan bought two phones along with a cellular service plan in October 2011 at the Sprint store on Lake Avenue. The phones were  packaged in new boxes with original instructions and manuals, the suit states.

After Garibyan and his son returned home, the boy opened one of the phones to play games, according to the complaint.

"After a few minutes, (the boy) started asking, 'Daddy, what is this?,"' the suit states. "When Mr. Garibyan looked at the telephone in (his son's) hand, to his shock, horror and disgust, (the child) was looking at pornographic photos and videos contained on one of the newly purchased phones."

The images were of a male and a female sales representative the father recognized from the same Sprint store where he bought the phones, according to the suit.