A judge ruled Wednesday that celebrity private eye Vincent Parco won’t have to register as a sex offender in connection to his 2019 conviction for secretly filming a threesome in a blackmail scheme.
Parco’s attorney, Peter Gleason, said after the hearing that Parco plans to appeal his conviction, claiming that the prosecution was “politically motivated so the Kings County District Attorney’s office could curry favor with the Hasidic community.”
The former reality star show is slated to be released from the Gowanda Correctional Facility on June 12 after serving a year behind bars for promoting prostitution and unlawfully surveilling and disseminating the sex tape.
“Mr. Parco has nothing but kind words for the staff and his fellow inmates and looks forward to having the opportunity to clear his good name,” Gleason said.
Back in 2016, Parco was hired by Samuel Israel, of Borough Park, while Israel faced charges of sexually abusing a female relative.
Israel, who was later convicted on his separate charges, paid Parco $17,000 to get damning video footage of the sex abuse victim’s husband in an attempt to threaten her not to testify in Israel’s case.
Gleason had attempted to argue in court during the trial that the DA’s office was pandering to the orthodox Jewish vote, but Supreme Court Justice Donald Leo barred him from using the defense.
“The defense was chastised on a number of occasions during the trial for even utilizing the term ‘Hasidic,’” Gleason said.
“The record showed the only one who distributed the video in question was a rabbi in Brooklyn — and that rabbi has yet to be charged,” he added.
The Brooklyn DA’s office, which pushed for Parco to be placed on the sex offender registry, did not immediately respond for a quest to comment.