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Reality TV Detective Allegedly Tried To Scare Victim So She Wouldn’t Testify Against His Child Sex Offender Client

Vincent Parco, former star of "Parco P.I.," is accused of luring a sexual assault victim's family members into having sex with prostitutes, then using video of the encounters to blackmail them so she'd keep her mouth shut.

By Gina Tron

A former reality television private investigator is accused of scheming to keep a sexual-assault victim from taking the stand against his client, now a convicted sex offender.

Vincent Parco was charged in New York with unlawful surveillance, promoting prostitution and tampering with a witness on Monday, Fox News reports.

Parco, 69, starred in the Court TV reality series “Parco P.I.” Prosecutors alleged that he, client Samuel Israel, 45, and ex-associate Tanya Freudenthaler, 41, tried to force a woman to not testify against Israel in 2017.

Israel, pleaded guilty to the years-long sexual abuse of a young family member and was sentenced in 2018 to eight years in prison, according to the New York Post.  The abuse began when the victim was 10 years old and continued until she was 16. She's now an adult.

During the trial, Israel confessed to hiring Parco in an attempt to blackmail the victim’s family so she wouldn't testify against him. Prosecutors say he paid the former reality star $17,000 for the job.

Vincent Parco

Parco allegedly set up video cameras in hotel rooms and arranged for sex workers to seduce relatives of the victim in order to blackmail them. One family member was recorded having sex with two women and when he was allegedly approached with that recording, he made a complaint to the district attorney’s office which led to Parco's arrest.

Freudenthaler's alleged role was to lure the the relative to the hotel where the sex would take place, according to the New York Daily News. All three were indicted in 2017.

It’s not clear if Parco has a lawyer who can speak on his behalf at this time but in the past he said he’d fight the case. 

"Parco P.I." aired on Court TV for two seasons.

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