PI in sex-video ploy for perv: DA
A Big Apple private eye tried to intimidate a child sexual-assault victim out of cooperating with authorities by setting up one of her family members in an embarrassing videotaped tryst with hookers, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Gumshoe and former “Parco, P.I.” reality-show star Vincent Parco, 67, was hired by the accused sex offender, Samuel Israel of Borough Park, to ensure that the now-adult woman didn’t testify, according to the Brooklyn DA’s Office.
“[Parco] told investigators he’s done this many times before — that is, has a woman meet somebody, videotapes them having sex, and that video is used to discredit them in court,” prosecutor Adam Libove told Judge Matthew D’Emic Tuesday.
The alleged scheme started when Israel, 45, gave Parco $17,000 in July 2016 to secretly record “embarrassing video images” of one of the victim’s family members, the prosecutor claimed.
Israel was busted in March 2016 on charges he’d sexually abused the woman, to whom he is related, when she was 12.
Israel, Parco and Tanya Freudenthaler, a woman charged in the plot, were all hauled into court Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to unlawful surveillance, promoting prostitution, dissemination of an unlawful surveillance image, tampering with a witness, and criminal contempt.
Parco and Freudenthaler were released without bail, while Israel was held in lieu of $150,000.
“I maintain my innocence,” Parco stated as he left court with his attorney, Peter Gleason.