District of Columbia
Brett Parson arrested in Florida on sex with minor charges
Former D.C. police lieutenant served as head of LGBT Liaison Unit
Former D.C. police lieutenant Brett Parson, who served as supervisor of the department’s LGBT Liaison Unit before retiring from the force in 2020, was arrested in Boca Raton, Fla., on Feb. 12, for allegedly having sex with a consenting 16-year-old boy in violation of Florida’s age of consent law, which is 18, according to an arrest affidavit filed in court.
The affidavit, which was prepared by a detective with the Coconut Creek (Fla.) Police Department, says the 16-year-old told police he and Parson met on the gay online dating app called Growlr and agreed to meet for a possible sexual encounter after exchanging “explicit” photos of each other.
An arrest warrant obtained by Coconut Creek police charges Parson with two counts of “Unlawful Sexual Activity with a Minor.” A separate incident and investigative report filed in court by Boca Raton police says officers with that department, in cooperation with Coconut Creek police, arrested Parson outside the Boca Raton residence of his parents where Parson was staying while visiting Florida from D.C.
The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately reach Parson for comment or determine the status of his case. Fox News reported it obtained court records showing Parson was being held at the Main Detention Center in Palm Beach County without bond as of Feb. 14, and it wasn’t clear if he had retained an attorney who could speak on his behalf.
The incident report filed by Boca Raton police says Parson was arrested on Feb. 12, several hours after Coconut Creek police say he and the 16-year-old allegedly had a sexual encounter in a car belonging to Parson’s father that Parson was driving and after he and the 16-year-old arranged to meet at a gas station in Coconut Creek near where the youth lives.
Criminal defense lawyers have expressed concern on behalf of clients in similar cases that an adult arrested for having consensual sex with a 16 or 17-year-old in a state where the age of consent is 18 would not have violated the law in states where the age of consent is 16. An online search of U.S. age of consent laws shows that at least 16 states and D.C. have established the age of consent for sexual acts at 16.
At the time of his retirement in 2020 after 26 years on the D.C. police force, Parson announced he was starting a consulting business to advise law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad on police-related issues. He also announced he would become a part-time volunteer D.C. police reserve officer as part of the department’s Reserve Officer Corps.
When asked to confirm media reports that Parson had been removed from his position as a reserve officer, D.C. police spokesperson Sean Hickman sent the Blade a short statement confirming those reports.
“We were made aware of the retired member’s arrest early Sunday morning,” the statement says. “MPD immediately terminated him from our Reserve Corps.”
According to the arrest affidavit filed by Coconut Creek Police Det. Sgt. John McKinney, officers on routine duty during the early morning hours of Feb. 12 observed a vehicle driven by the 16-year-old being followed by a vehicle driven by Parson. The affidavit says the officers approached both vehicles after they observed the vehicle driven by the 16-year-year-old, a Ford Focus, turned into a “restricted access facility owned by Comcast.”
It says the vehicle driven by Parson, a red Buick convertible, “waited in the middle of the roadway,” prompting officers to approach Parson. The affidavit says Parson told the officers he was a police officer visiting his parents from D.C. and wasn’t familiar with the area and simply got lost. It says the officers allowed Parson to leave the area after he told them he did not know the person in the other vehicle.
“The officers then made contact with the driver of the gray Ford Focus, later identified as the 16-year-old minor hereinafter referred to as ‘RT,’” the affidavit says. “RT advised the officers that he was using Growlr, a dating application for gay men, to communicate with a male who identified himself as Brett,” the affidavit continues. “He stated that Brett told him he was looking for no strings attached casual sex, repeatedly asked him to meet, and sent each other explicit photographs.”
After initially meeting at a Shell gas station, at about 1 a.m. on Feb. 12, he and Parson arranged to drive to another location and park their cars in a secluded parking lot at the site of a daycare center in Coconut Creek, where RT got into the car Parson was driving, according to the affidavit. He told police the two talked for a while before they began kissing and a short time later performed oral sex on each other, the affidavit says RT recounted to police.
It says that the two attracted the attention of police when RT became nervous after someone walked past the parked car where he and Parson were engaging in intimate acts and the two decided to drive in their separate cars to find another location. That’s when police noticed that RT drove his vehicle into a restricted area and officers approached him to find out what was going on.
The affidavit does not say what prompted RT to disclose the intimate details of his alleged sexual acts with Parson when the officers would not otherwise have learned about that. The affidavit also doesn’t explain how it came about that RT’s parents arrived on the scene where police were interviewing their son as stated in the affidavit, although it’s likely that RT provided police with his parents contact information.
“We first spoke with RT’s parents and explained what we knew up to this point and the process involved in a case of this nature,” the affidavit states. “After a detailed explanation of their options, RT’s parents stated they would like to press charges against Brett Parson and together with their son would consent to the necessary steps for evidence collection,” it says.
“We then spoke with RT,” the affidavit says in recounting the action by McKinney and other police investigators. “It should be noted that RT is a thin build male who clearly does not appear to be 18 years of age or older,” it says. The affidavit says RT then repeated his account of his interactions with Parson that he gave to the officers who stopped him in his car earlier that morning.
The affidavit says RT turned over his phone to police to allow them to read the text messages that he and Parson exchanged after they met on the Growlr dating site. It quotes RT texting Parson to say “so sexy” after Parson sent him a shirtless photo of himself. After RT sent Parson a clothed photo of himself, Parson replied, “You are so cute,” the affidavit says. It says the two subsequently exchanged “explicit” photos of each other.
The affidavit’s recounting of the text messages between Parson and RT makes it clear that RT willingly chose to meet Parson for a sexual encounter knowing that Parson was an older man. The affidavit says Parson is 53.
After interviewing RT and his parents, the affidavit says detectives escorted them to the Coconut Creek Police’s Sexual Assault Treatment Center “for a physical examination, evidence collection and sworn recorded statement.” It says RT was then shown a group of photos of others along with Parson’s photo and he “positively identified Brett” as the person with whom he engaged in sexual activity.
“Based on the facts above, probable cause exists for the issuance of an arrest warrant for Brett Parson because Parson, who is over 24 years of age, did engage in sexual activity, in this case oral sex with each other, involving the victim who is only 16 years of age,” the affidavit concludes.
By mentioning that Parson was older than 24 years or age the affidavit was referring to the Florida age of consent statute that allows a person between the age of 18 and 23 to legally engage in consensual sex with a person who is 16 or 17 years old.
The affidavit does not say — and it could not immediately be determined — whether RT self identifies as gay, whether he was out to his parents as a gay person before the incident with Parson surfaced, or whether his parents are supportive of his sexual orientation. LGBTQ youth advocates have reported that many LGBTQ young people are confronted with hostile parents who disparage their sexual orientation or gender identity and sometimes prompt the young LGBTQ people to run away from their homes.
Gay former D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Alex Padro, who says he has known Parson for many years in Padro’s role as a community activist in the city’s Shaw neighborhood, said Parson “earned my respect and that of many in our city and beyond” during Parson’s career as a police officer.
“Brett Parson served our city proudly for 26 years before his retirement in 2020,” Padro said. “Just like anyone else accused of a crime, Mr. Parson deserves to be treated as being innocent until proven guilty, and is entitled to mount a defense,” he said.
“MPD’s action in terminating a 26-year veteran of its ranks from the Reserve Corps without due process, without even hearing his side of the story is both un-American and unjust, depriving our citizens and MPD of his years of experience and demonstrating to those volunteer reservists that MPD does not have their back,” Padro said.
D.C. gay activist Rick Rosendall said Parson’s arrest raises the issue of teenage sexuality that the prevailing political and social climate does not appear ready to address.
“A 16-year-old cruising on Growlr may be a poor choice for a sexual partner, but he is not a victim,” Rosendall said. “Our society continues to have the most absurdly counterproductive attitudes regarding teenage sexuality, as if it could be wished away,” he said. “The result of this denialism is teen pregnancies and STDs.”
“Brett Parson has done our community considerable service and I hold him in high regard,” added Rosendall.
Legal observers have said age of consent laws are based on the long-held belief that a person under the age determined to be the legal “age of consent” is incapable of giving informed consent to sexual acts.
District of Columbia
Deon Jones speaks about D.C. Department of Corrections bias lawsuit settlement
Gay former corrections officer says harassment, discrimination began in 1993
Deon Jones says he is pleased with the outcome of his anti-gay bias lawsuit against the D.C. Department of Corrections that ended after five years on Feb. 5 with the D.C. government paying him $500,000 in a settlement payment.
The lawsuit, filed on his behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union of D.C. and the international law firm WilmerHale, charged that Jones, a Department of Corrections sergeant, had been subjected to years of discrimination, retaliation, and a hostile work environment because of his identity as a gay man in clear violation of the D.C. Human Rights Act.
A statement released by the ACLU at the time the settlement was announced says Jones, “faced years of verbal abuse and harassment, from co-workers and incarcerated people alike, including anti-gay slurs, threats, and degrading treatment.”
The statement adds, “The prolonged mistreatment took a severe toll on Jones’s mental health, and he experienced depression, post-traumatic-stress disorder, and 15 anxiety attacks in 2021 alone.:
Jones said the harassment and mistreatment he encountered began in 1993, one year after he first began work at the Department of Corrections and continued for more than 25 years under six D.C. mayors, including current Mayor Muriel Bowser, who he says did not respond to his repeated pleas for help.
Each of those mayors, including Bowser, have been outspoken supporters of the LGBTQ community, but Jones says they did not intervene to change what he calls the homophobic “culture” at the Department of Corrections.
The Department of Corrections, through the Office of the D.C. Attorney General, which represents city agencies against lawsuits, and the mayor’s office, have so far declined to comment on the lawsuit and the half million-dollar settlement the city offered to Jones, who accepted it.
Among other things, the settlement agreement states that Jones would be required to resign from his job at the Department of Corrections. It also declares that “neither the parties’ agreement nor the District government’s offer to settle the case shall in any way be construed as an admission by the District that it or any of its current or former employees, acted wrongfully with respect to plaintiff or any other person, or that plaintiff has any rights.”
Scott Michelman, the D.C. ACLU’s legal director said that type of disclaimer is typical for parties that agree to settle a lawsuit like this. He said the city’s action to pay Jones a half million-dollar settlement “speaks louder than words.”
With that as a backdrop, Jones reflected on the settlement and what he says was his tumultuous 30-year career as an employee at the D.C. Department of Corrections in a Feb. 9 interview with the Washington Blade.
He and Michelman pointed out that Jones was placed on paid administrative leave in April 2022, one year after his lawsuit was filed. Among his upcoming plans, Jones told the Blade, is to publish a podcast that, among other things, will highlight the hardship he faced at the Department of Corrections and advocate for LGBTQ rights.
BLADE: What are your thoughts on this lawsuit settlement which appears very much in your favor?
JONES: That’s great. I’m happy. I’m glad to resign. It’s been a long time coming. It was the worst time it’s ever been. And I have advocated for the community for many, many years. And not only standing up for my rights but for the rights for others in the LGBTQ community.
And I’m just tired now. And my podcast will start soon. And I will continue to advocate for the community.
BLADE: Can you tell a little about that and when it will begin?
JONES: Once in April, once everything is closed my podcast will be starting. And that’s Deon’s Chronicle and Reveal. Yes, my own podcast.
BLADE: Since we have reported your attorney saying you have been on administrative leave since March of 2022, some in the community might be interested in what you have been doing since that time. Did you get another job or were you just waiting for this case to be resolved?
JONES: I was waiting for this to be resolved. I couldn’t work. That would violate policy and procedures of the D.C. government. So, I could not get another job or anything else.
BLADE: You have said under administrative leave you were still getting paid. You were still able to live off of that?
JONES: Yes, I was able to. Yes, sir. I used to do a lot of overtime. As a zone lieutenant for many years, I have supervised over 250 officers. I’ve also supervised over 25,000 inmates in my 30 years.
BLADE: How many years have you been working for the Department of Corrections?
JONES: It’s 30 years all together. I started down at the Lorton facility. Six facilities — I’ve worked for past directors, deputy directors, internal affairs. I’ve done it all.
BLADE: Do you have any plans now other than doing the podcast?
JONES: Well, to just do my podcast and also to write my book and my memoir inside of the house of pain, the house of shame — what I’ve been through. When I start my podcast off it will be stories — Part 1 through Part 4. And I will go back to the Lorton days all the way up to now. When it first started was sexual harassment and discrimination back down at Lorton. And I mean this has just been the worst time around.
BLADE: So, did you first start your work at the Lorton Prison?
JONES: Yes, I was at the central facility, which was the program institution.
MICHELMAN: Just for context. You may remember this, but the Lorton facility was where D.C. incarcerated people were held. So, that was part of the D.C. Department of Corrections.
BLADE: Yes, and that was located in Lorton, Va., is that right?
JONES: Right.
BLADE: Didn’t that close and is the main incarceration facility is now in D.C. itself?
JONES: Yes. And that closed in 2001.
BLADE: I see. And is the main D.C. jail now at a site near the RFK Stadium site?
JONES: Yes, sir. And next-door is the correctional treatment facility as well.
BLADE: So, are you saying the harassment and other mistreatment against you began back when you were working at the Lorton facility?
JONES: At the Lorton central facility. And they used to flash me too. When I say flash me like the residents, the inmates were flashing. And they [the employees] were flashing.
BLADE: What do you mean by flashing?
JONES: They take their penis out and everything else. I mean the sexual harassment was terrible. And I came out then down there. And I continued to advocate for myself and to advocate for other people who I was told were being picked on as well.
BLADE: As best you can recall, where and what year did that happen?
JONES: That was back in 1993 in April of 1993.
BLADE: The mayor’s office has declined to comment on the settlement and payment the city is giving you. Yet they have always said they have a strong policy of nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people in D.C. government agencies. But do you think that was not carried out at the Department of Corrections?
JONES: That’s a blatant reason why — I had 13 anxiety attacks. It was so blatant. Can you imagine? On the airwaves or the walkie-talkies — everybody had a walkie talkie — the captains and the majors and everything. And you transmit it to the command center or something like that. When you finish someone gets on the air and calls you a sissy or a fag.
They received so many complaints, and I also sent the mayor so many emails and begging for help. And they ignored it. They didn’t address any complaints at all. So, that’s bull.
BLADE: But now after you filed your lawsuit and you received this settlement do you think there will be changes there to protect the rights of other LGBTQ employees?
JONES: I hope so, because I have been defending community rights. For many years I have been advocating for different things and different services. And I’ve seen the treatment. There are a lot of mistreatments towards the community over there. And I have taken a stance for a lot of people in the community and protecting their constitutional rights as well as mine.
BLADE: What advice might you have for what the Department of Corrections should do to correct the situation that led to your lawsuit?
JONES: Well, what my advice for the department is they need to go back over their training. And they need to enforce rules against any acts of discrimination, retaliation, or sexual harassment. They need to enforce that. They’re not enforcing that at all. They’re not doing it at all. And this time it was worse than ever, then I’ve ever seen it. That you would get on the walkie talkie and someone would call you a fag or a sissy or whatever else or do evil things and everything. They are not enforcing what they are preaching. They are not enforcing that.
BLADE: Is there any kind of concluding comment you may want to make?
JONES: Well, I hope that this litigation will be a wakeup call for the department. And also, that it will give someone else the motivation to stand up for their rights. I was blessed to have the ACLU and WilmerHale to protect my constitutional rights. So, I am just really happy. So, I’m hoping that others will stand up for their rights. Because a lot of people in the community that worked there, they were actually afraid. And I had some people who actually quit because of the pressure.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
District of Columbia
Capital Pride wins anti-stalking order against local activist
Darren Pasha claims action is linked to his criticism of Pride organizers
A D.C. Superior Court judge on Feb. 6 partially approved an anti-stalking order against a local LGBTQ activist requested last October by the Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based LGBTQ group that organizes the city’s annual Pride events.
The ruling by Judge Robert D. Okun requires Darren Pasha to stay at least 100 feet away from Capital Pride’s staff, board members, and volunteers until the time of a follow up court hearing he scheduled for April 17.
In his ruling at the Feb. 6 hearing, which was virtual rather than held in-person at the courthouse, Okun said he had changed the distance that Capital Pride had requested for the stay-away, anti-stalking order from 200 yards to 100 feet. The court records show that the judge also denied a motion filed earlier by Pasha, who did not attend the hearing, to “quash” the Capital Pride civil case against him.
Pasha told the Washington Blade he suffered an injury and damaged his mobile phone by falling off his scooter on the city’s snow-covered streets that prevented him from calling in to join the Feb. 6 court hearing.
In his own court filings without retaining an attorney, Pasha has strongly denied the stalking related allegations against him by Capital Pride, saying “no credible or admissible evidence has been provided” to show he engaged in any wrongdoing.
The Capital Pride complaint initially filed in court on Oct. 27, 2025, includes an 18-page legal brief outlining its allegations against Pasha and an additional 167-page addendum of “supporting exhibits” that includes multiple statements by witnesses whose names are blacked out.
“Over the past year, Defendant Darren Pasha (“DSP”) has engaged in a sustained, and escalating course of conduct directed at CPA, including repeated and unwanted contact, harassment, intimidation, threats, manipulation, and coercive behavior targeting CPA staff, board members, volunteers, and affiliates,” the Capital Pride complaint states.
In his initial 16-page response to the complaint, Pasha says the Capital Pride complaint appears to be a form of retaliation against him for a dispute he has had with the organization and its then president, Ashley Smith, last year.
“It is evident that the document is replete with false, misleading, and unsubstantiated assertions,” he said of the complaint.
Smith, who has since resigned from his role as board president, did not respond to a request by the Blade for comment at the time the Capital Pride court complaint was filed against Pasha.
Capital Pride Executive Director Ryan Bos and the attorney representing the group in its legal action against Pasha, Nick Harrison, did not immediately respond to a Blade request for comment on the judge’s Feb. 6 ruling.
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