A former reality TV private investigator is set to go to trial for an alleged blackmail scheme in which he is accused of secretly recording a sex tape to try and stop a woman from testifying against one of his clients.
Vincent Parco, 69, is scheduled to face a New York court on Monday after being charged with unlawful surveillance, promoting prostitution and tampering with a witness.
Parco, who was the star of Parco, P.I. TV series that aired in 2005, is accused of trying to silence a woman into not cooperating in the prosecution of a man who sexually abused her as a child.
The private investigator was allegedly paid $17,000 by his client Samuel Israel, to secretly film a hotel sex encounter between a prostitute and a relative of the sex abuse victim back in 2017.
Prosecutors say Israel hired Parco as his private investigator after he was charged in 2016 for sexually abusing the woman when she was 12 years old.
At the time of his arrest, Israel rejected a plea deal that would have seen him jailed for five years. He was banned from contacting the victim or her family after an order of protection was issued.