Tampa, FL – A Tampa lawyer was arrested after it was discovered he was pretending to represent women in jail so that he could make a video of them.
Police said Andrew Spark paid the supposed clients for sexual acts, and filmed it so he could release a video he was going to call “Girls In Jail.”
Authorities said that Spark, 54, may have pulled off the same scheme with multiple women at county jails across Florida, according to Tampabay.com.
Spark was accused of soliciting sex from an incarcerated woman, offering to put money in her commissary account, and falsely telling police he was representing the women as their legal counsel.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said Spark lied and said he was representing the women to gain access to a private room reserved for attorneys to meet with their clients.
That conference room doesn’t have recording equipment and only has a small window in the door. Police said Spark would stand in front of the small window blocking the view while the woman engaged in sex acts.
Sheriff Gualtieri said there was no evidence that Spark was the lawyer for the women.
“He duped the system because he came in there representing himself as a lawyer,” Sheriff Gualtieri said at a Dec. 18 news conference. “There’s something that is sacrosanct about that lawyer-client relationship, and that’s why we give great consideration and, frankly, deference to it.”
People who enter the jail are generally not allowed to have electronics. However, exceptions are made at times for attorneys.
Spark was arrested Dec. 17 on a felony charge of introduction or possession of contraband in a county detention facility, and misdemeanor charges of solicitation for prostitution and exposure of sexual organs, according to police.
Spark put $30 to $40 into the jailed women’s commissary accounts each time they performed sexual acts.
The lawyer was caught when someone tipped off authorities to Spark’s scheme. Then police wired the private room for sound and when Spark exposed himself, police entered and arrested him.
Police said Spark was booked into the same jail where he pulled off his scam.
He was released on $5,300 bail. The jailed women who performed the sex acts were not charged.