September 18, 2024
Thom Carroll/For PhillyVoice
Don-Diego Parkman, 19, of Hamilton, is facing sexual assault charges for allegedly exchanging sexually explicit messages and photos with a preteen girl from Missouri, Mercer County prosecutors say.
A New Jersey man who worked as a costumed character at Sesame Place in Bucks County and other venues is facing sexual assault charges for allegedly exploiting a preteen girl online.
Don-Diego Parkman, 19, of Hamilton, was arrested for allegedly exchanging sexually explicit messages and photos with a girl from Missouri, acting Mercer County Prosecutor Theresa Hilton said Tuesday. Parkman also has worked as a costumed character and mascot for the Somerset Patriots minor league baseball team and Devils Arena Entertainment, a company affiliated with the New Jersey Devils.
Parkman also allegedly had directed the girl to take sexually explicit photos and videos of herself, investigators said.
A SWAT team searched Parkman's home last week, seizing "multiple items of evidentiary value" and taking Parkman into custody, police said. 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. A press release put out by Hilton said Parkman also had been employed by Six Flags Great Adventure, but the park told 6ABC that though he had been hired and passed a background check, he had not yet begun working.
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.
