A New Jersey man employed as a costume character at amusement parks and other venues has been arrested for online child exploitation.
Don-Diego Parkman, a 19-year-old from Hamilton, was arrested for engaging in sexually explicit messages and photos with a minor, acting Mercer County Prosecutor Theresa Hilton announced Tuesday. Parkman works as a costume character and mascot at local venues including Somerset Baseball Partners, Devils Arena Entertainment and, most recently, Sesame Place in Langhorne.
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Local investigators were contacted by Missouri police about a minor in their district communicating with Parkman. Upon further investigation, they learned that Parkman allegedly had been directing the minor to take sexually explicit photos and videos of herself.
A SWAT team searched Parkman’s Hamilton home last week, seized “multiple items of evidentiary value” and took Parkman into custody. He has been charged with aggravated sexual assault, manufacturing child sexual abuse material, possession of child sex material and endangerment. Prosecutors have filed a motion to detain him pending a trial.
Sesame Place and Devils Arena Entertainment told 6ABC that Parkman is no longer employed there. The statement from the Hilton’s office said Parkman also worked at Six Flags Great Adventure, but the park told the outlet that while Parkman had been hired there and passed a background check, he never actually began working there.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office Internet Crimes Against Children Unit at 609-989-6568 or the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force tip line at 888-648-6007.
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