Sprint Smartphone Sold with Adult Content, Man Says

A Los Angeles, California, man is suing Sprint because he says the telecommunications firm sold his young son a smartphone with adult content already installed.

Arsen Garibyan told Los Angeles reporters that he purchased the phone from a Pasadena, California-based Sprint dealer two years ago. He says that, when his underage son began using the device at home, he soon discovered illicit images and videos.

According to the suit, which has been filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, "After a few minutes, (the boy) started asking, 'Daddy, what is this?' ... When Mr. Garibyan looked at the telephone in (his son's) hand, to his shock, horror and disgust, (the child) was looking at [adult] photos and videos contained on one of the newly purchased phones."

Workers Allegedly Photographed Own Bodies

The suit -- which alleges breach of contract, fraud, breach of the implied warranty of merchantability and negligent infliction of emotional distress -- suggests the images were not professional videos and photographs.

Instead, pictures and videos displayed the body parts of the people who sold Garibyan the phone. (Source: dailynews.com)

Even worse, Garibyan says the workers sold him the phone as if it were new, when it was, in fact, used.

Sprint: These Weren't Our Employees

Sprint has attempted to distance itself from the story by insisting that the people who sold Garibyan the phone were not employed by the telecommunications firm.

"This incident occurred at a retail store in Pasadena that was selling Sprint products," Sprint said in a statement. "Sprint does not condone this behavior. The sales representatives allegedly implicated were NOT Sprint employees."

The statement goes on to say that Sprint terminated its relationship with the dealer shortly after the incident occurred and that the firm's "investigation into this matter continues." (Source: cbsnews.com)

This is hardly the first time that a customer has found shocking surprises on a supposedly new piece of hardware. Last year a Georgia woman accused Sprint and Radio Shack of selling her 13-year-old daughter a smartphone packed with similarly disturbing images.