Attorney General Bill McCollum News Release
September 6, 2007
Media Contact: Jenn Meale
Phone: (850) 245-0150
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Bay County Attorney Gets 14 Years For Creating Child Pornography

~ Personal injury lawyer enticed teen boys to commit sex acts over a webcam ~


TALLAHASSEE, FL - Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced that a Bay County attorney will serve 14 years in state prison for producing and transmitting child pornography and promoting the sexual performance of a child. Paul Richard Parker, Jr., must also serve 14 years of sex offender probation after his release and must permanently relinquish his license to practice law. Parker was arrested in November by investigators with the Attorney General’s Child Predator CyberCrime Unit after he was discovered promoting pornographic videos of children during an undercover online investigation. He was prosecuted by the Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution in cooperation with the State Attorney’s Office of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit.

“This is, perhaps, one of the worst examples of a well-respected professional hiding behind the anonymity of the internet and maliciously abusing his unsuspecting victims,” said Attorney General McCollum. “The details of this case underscore the potential danger associated with communicating with strangers online.”

Parker, 42, enticed young boys over the internet by pretending to be a teenage girl or boy and persuaded them to perform sexual acts via webcam. Parker would then record these acts and make pornographic videos from them. He also placed additional child pornography videos on the internet, where they were discovered by an undercover CyberCrime investigator who was able to trace them back to Parker.

Search warrants executed at Parker’s Panama City residence uncovered hundreds of images and videos of child pornography on his computer and other equipment. Law enforcement officers executing the search warrant verified that Parker’s computers contained the images found online by the undercover investigator as well as those he had manufactured himself. He was arrested by authorities with the CyberCrime Unit and the Bay County Sheriff's Office.

As part of his plea agreement entered today before Judge Michael C. Overstreet of the Bay County Circuit Court, Parker pled guilty to three counts of manufacturing child pornography, one count of promoting child pornography, one count of transmitting child pornography and 73 counts of possession of child pornography. After he completes his 14-year prison sentence, he will serve 14 years of sex offender probation. Conditions of his sex offender probation will include the following restrictions:

- A mandatory curfew;
- Prohibitions on living within a certain proximity to places where children regularly congregate;
- Active participation in and successful completion of a sex offender treatment program;
- No contact with any alleged victim;
- No contact with any child under the age of 18 without prior approval;
- Prohibitions on working or volunteering at places where children regularly congregate;
- Prohibitions relating to the possession or viewing of any obscene or pornographic material;
- No access to the Internet until the successful completion of a treatment program;
- Submission of a DNA specimen;
- Submission to warrantless searches by the probation officer;
- Participation in annual polygraph examinations;
- Maintenance of a driving log and related prohibitions;
- Prohibition against obtaining or using a post office box without prior approval, and
- Submission to mandatory electronic monitoring.


"We are the only State Attorney's Office that is a member of the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and like the Attorney General, we are working every day to try to find these offenders and to protect our children,” said State Attorney Steve Meadows. “This cooperative effort should send a message to internet predators that they are being watched, they will be found, and they will be sent to prison."

Parker’s attempt to portray himself as an individual close to his victims’ age is an example of grooming, which occurs when an internet child predator lies about his or her age to break down the intended victim’s inhibitions. By gaining the victim’s trust, the internet predator makes the child feel more comfortable for the purpose of seducing him or her over the internet. Under the CyberCrimes Against Children Act of 2007, grooming is now a separate crime as related to internet solicitation and can be charged with enhanced penalties. The new legislation was the Attorney General’s top priority during the 2007 Florida Legislative session and when the bill was signed into law, Florida became a national leader in the fight against cybercrime.

In addition to creating the new penalty for grooming, the CyberCrimes Against Children Act of 2007 also substantially increased penalties for collectors of child pornography who have more than 10 images of child pornography and either possess or promote child pornography that contains images of children under the age of five, sexual battery of a child, sadomasochistic abuse of a child, bestiality involving a child or any pornographic video or live movie of a child. For possession of these images, the charge can be reclassified as a second-degree felony, increasing the maximum penalty from five years in prison to 15 years in prison. For promotion and distribution of these images, the charge can be reclassified as a first-degree felony, increasing the maximum penalty from 15 years in prison to 30 years in prison. The law will go into effect on October 1, 2007.

The Child Predator CyberCrime Unit's mission is to protect children from computer-facilitated sexual exploitation. The unit does this by working cooperatively on a statewide basis with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to provide resources and expertise, while preventing the spread of these crimes through education and community awareness. Parker’s arrest was the 30th made by officers with the unit since its inception in October 2005, although the unit has since increased its number of arrests to 48 individuals. The Child Predator CyberCrime Unit is a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) of North Florida.

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