Pasco: Mother says man violated injunction

Mother says man violated injunction

The 31-year-old is arrested after allegedly violating a restraining order while on his way to court to try to get it lifted.

By TAMARA LUSH

NEW PORT RICHEY -- On the day that Bruce Alton Parks asked a judge to dissolve a restraining order against him, authorities arrested Parks and charged him with violating that very injunction.

Parks, 31, is accused of having sex with a 17-year-old girl. The teen, whose name is being withheld because she is a minor, told the Times last year that she loves Parks and hopes to marry him.

But the girl's mother, who also is not named in order to protect the identity of the girl, has tried to halt the relationship numerous times, saying that Parks has 'brainwashed" the teen. In October, the girl's mother took out a domestic violence injunction against Parks, which banned contact between Parks and the girl -- and between Parks and the mother.

Parks has been charged with violating that order twice by contacting the girl and her mother; a trial is pending on one charge and the second charge was dropped.

On Friday, authorities said, Parks violated the order again.

Parks was on his way to court to ask a judge to dissolve the restraining order. He had stopped at an acquaintance's home, which is located across the street from the girl and her mother, to pick up a witness for the court hearing.

The mother told deputies that she was leaving her home to attend the hearing when Parks 'purposefully" backed up his 1985 red Chevrolet Camaro.

'He was operating in an abrupt manner, almost striking the motor vehicle (the mother) was operating," according to a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report.

No one was injured, and the mother attended the hearing, as did Parks.

The judge did not dissolve the restraining order, and after the hearing, the mother filed a report about the morning incident near her house.

'This is not the first time she has made allegations against him," Robert Attridge Jr., who is Parks' lawyer, said Friday. 'He was just picking up a witness that lives across the street."

Parks of 6405 Sentry Way, New Port Richey, was arrested and taken to the county jail in Land O'Lakes where he was held without bail pending a bail review hearing this morning. 'Today was a glimmer of hope for me," said the mother Friday night. 'And I haven't had one of those in a long time. The system worked."

The relationship between Parks and her daughter began two years ago, said the mother. She tried to use the legal system to stop the relationship, but because her daughter and Parks denied any improper conduct, he never was charged.

Last year, the mother hired a private investigator, who hid a lipstick-sized camera in the family garage and appeared to tape Parks and the girl having sex. That forced authorities to charge Parks with unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

Last week, the mother went to Tallahassee to lobby for a bill sponsored by state Rep. Heather Fiorentino, R-New Port Richey, that would let parents take out injunctions against adults having improper relationships with their children, even if they can't prove the adult is having sex with the minor.