Man Who Worked As Sesame Place Character Charged With Sex Assault

MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP, PA —A teenager who worked as a costumed character at Sesame Place over the past year has been charged with aggravated sexual assault and other offenses for exchanging child sexual abuse material with a preteen, Acting Mercer County Prosecutor Theresa L. Hilton said Tuesday.

Don-Diego Parkman, 19, of Hamilton, N.J., is charged with one count of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, one count of second-degree sexual assault, one count of first-degree manufacturing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), one count of third-degree possession of CSAM and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Parkman was recently employed at Sesame Place Philadelphia in Langhorne, Hilton said.

He has also been employed this past year as a costumed character and mascot by companies including Six Flags Great Adventure, Somerset Baseball Partners, and Devils Arena Entertainment.

Sesame Place representatives did not immediately return a request seeking comment.

Earlier this month, detectives with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit and the New Jersey State Police ICAC Task Force received information from law enforcement in Missouri that a minor had been chatting and exchanging child sexual abuse material at the direction of a man named Don-Diego Parkman.

During the investigation, detectives discovered that in addition to exchanging sexually explicit messages and photos with the preteen girl, Parkman was directing her to take photos and videos of herself engaging in sexual conduct to send to him, Hilton said.

Authorities executed a search warrant at Parkman’s Hamilton residence, where detectives seized multiple items as evidence, Hilton said. Parkman was taken into custody without incident.

The prosecutor’s office has filed a motion to detain Parkman pending trial.

Hilton has urged anyone with information about suspected improper contact by unknown persons communicating with children via the Internet or possible exploitation or sexual abuse of children to contact the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit at (609) 989-6568 or the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force tip line at (888) 648-6007.