A Florida attorney is facing several charges after he allegedly paid female inmates for sexual acts for a proposed “girls in jail” porn series.
Andrew Spark was arrested Sunday after deputies at the Pinellas County Jail caught him with his pants down while in the attorney visitation room with a 28-year-old female inmate.
Detectives who entered the room as the two were allegedly about to begin a sexual act said Spark’s penis was “fully exposed,” according to Tampa station WTVT.
Spark was charged with exposure of sexual organs, introduction/possession of contraband into a county detention facility and soliciting for prostitution. He was freed a short time later after posting $5,300 bail.
Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri also alleges that Spark solicited sex from at least two incarcerated women. In return, Spark would offer to put money in their commissary accounts ― about $30 to $40 at a time, the sheriff said.
Spark was able to get the women alone in private rooms by using his attorney visitation rights ― even with inmates who weren’t his clients, according to WFTS TV.
Typically, electronic devices aren’t allowed behind bars except for attorneys in the process of serving clients.
“He duped the system because he came in there representing himself as a lawyer,” Gualtieri said at a news conference Monday. “There’s something that is sacrosanct about that lawyer-client relationship, and that’s why we give great consideration and, frankly, deference to it.”
Spark allegedly filmed the sex acts on his iPad for a porn project titled “Girls in Jail,” according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Investigators alleged Spark and the woman he was caught with had at least six encounters between June and his Dec. 17 arrest. Neither she nor the other woman whom Spark allegedly solicited will be charged with crimes.
Officials are investigating to see how many other inmates Spark may have had sex with at the Pinellas County Jail and other facilities in the Tampa Bay area and Central Florida.
Officers are also in the process of obtaining a search warrant for the tablet in hopes of discovering the number of videos Spark made and where they may have been posted, according to WFLA TV.
Gualtieri said there are no current plans to change the rules on attorney visitation, but admitted the incident “certainly raises concerns,” according to the Bradenton Herald.