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Florida prosecutor expected to drop sex with minor charges against Brett Parson

Former D.C. cop arrested in 2022 for alleged consenting sex with 16-year-old

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Brett Parson was arrested in 2022. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

A spokesperson for the lead prosecutor in Broward County, Fla., has confirmed a notice filed in court indicating plans for dropping two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor filed against former D.C. police lieutenant Brett Parson by Boca Raton, Fla., police in February 2022.

An arrest affidavit filed by Coconut Creek police at the time of Parson’s arrest on Feb. 18, 2022, says Parson allegedly had a consenting sexual encounter with a 16-year-old boy who told police he met Parson on the gay online dating app Growlr and agreed to meet for a sexual encounter after the two exchanged “explicit” photos of each other.

Police and prosecutors at the time charged Parson, 54, with violating Florida’s age of consent law, which is 18, even though authorities acknowledged that the Growlr app requires users to be at least 18 years old.

“There is a court hearing scheduled for 8:30 a.m. on Monday [March 13] when it is anticipated the prosecutor will drop or dismiss the two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor,” Paula McMahon, Public Information Officer for the Broward State Attorney’s Office, told the Washington Blade in a March 9 email message.

“If the hearing goes ahead as anticipated, the prosecutor will provide the judge with full details,” McMahon said. “These include the parents of the victim, who was 16 at the time of the incident, recently informed prosecutors that he does not want to go forward with the case.”

McMahon told the Blade in her message that her office would be in a position to release more information about the outcome of the case after the March 13 hearing in Broward County Circuit Court, which is located in Fort Lauderdale.

NBC 4 Washington was the first to report the plans by prosecutors to drop the charges against Parson.

Parson’s arrest took place about two years after he retired from the Metropolitan Police Department of D.C. after a 26-year career in which, among other duties, he served as supervisor of the department’s LGBT Liaison Unit. At the time of his retirement Parson announced he was starting a consulting business to advise law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad on police-related issues.

Parson has declined to speak with the media since the time of his arrest.

Charging documents filed by Boca Raton and Coconut Creek, Fla., police say Parson had been staying at the Boca Raton home of his parents at the time of his arrest. An incident report filed by Boca Raton police says Parson and the 16-year-old youth, who is not identified in charging documents, arranged to meet at a gas station in Coconut Creek near where the youth lives.

A separate arrest affidavit filed by Coconut Creek police says after first meeting at the gas station the two agreed to drive in their separate cars to another secluded location, where the two parked and the youth entered the car Parson was driving and had a consenting sexual encounter with Parson.

The document says after someone walked past the parked car where the two were engaging in intimate acts, the two decided to drive in their separate cars to find another location to park. That’s when police noticed the youth, who is identified only as RT in the charging documents, drove his vehicle into a restricted area at a Comcast facility and police officers approached him to find out what was going on.

The document says police also stopped Parson’s car, but they allowed him to drive off after he told them he didn’t know the person in the other car and he was from Washington, D.C. and not familiar with the area where he was driving.

It was at that time, according to charging documents, that RT provided the officers with a full account of his interaction with Parson. The documents do not provide a reason why the youth provided information the officers would not otherwise have obtained.

Among other things, the affidavit says RT turned over to police his cell phone, which included text messages between him and Parson, which helped police locate Parson to carry out the arrest. Court records show Parson, who pleaded not guilty, was released on a $50,000 bond six days after his arrest for which defendants usually must pay 10 percent, which would have been $5,000.

After initially requiring that Parson remain in Florida at his parents’ home while awaiting trial, a judge later allowed Parson to return to his D.C. home with the requirement that he attend any court hearings deemed required by the judge.

“In Florida, laws governing sexual activity with minors are ‘strict liability’ offenses,” Fort Lauderdale attorney Norm Kent told the Blade at the time of Parson’s arrest. “This means that a person can be charged where they do not know the age of the person that they engaged in sexual activity with, or even worse, where the other person has lied about his or her age,” said Kent, the former owner of South Florida Gay News, an LGBTQ community newspaper.

Kent noted that in Parson’s case, the alleged victim used a dating app that limits its users to individuals over the age of 18. He said it also appears from police reports that the 16-year-old never told Parson he was under 18.

“These are troubling facts that could be presented to a prosecutor or judge in support of mitigation, but the law does not allow them to operate as a complete defense to the crimes charged,” Kent said.

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District of Columbia

Activists protest outside Hungarian Embassy in DC

Budapest Pride scheduled to take place Saturday, despite ban

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Activists on the eve of Budapest Pride protest outside the Hungarian Embassy in D.C. on June 27, 2025. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

More than two dozen activists gathered in front of the Hungarian Embassy in D.C. on Friday to protest the country’s ban on Budapest Pride and other LGBTQ-specific events.

Amnesty International USA Executive Director Paul O’Brien read a letter that Dávid Vig, executive director of Amnesty International Hungary, wrote.

“For 30 years Budapest Pride has been a celebration of hope, courage, and love,” said Vig in the letter that O’Brien read. “Each march through the streets of Budapest has been a powerful testament to the resilience of those who dare to demand equality, but a new law threatens to erase Pride and silence everyone who demands equal rights for LGBTI people.”

“The Hungarian government’s relentless campaign against LGBTI rights represents a worrying trend that can spread normalizing division and hatred,” added Vig. “Thank you for standing with us when we refuse to be intimidated.”

Council for Global Equality Chair Mark Bromley and two of his colleagues — Stephen Leonelli and Keifer Buckingham — also spoke. Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell and Chloe Schwenke, a political appointee in the Obama-Biden administration who worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Planned Parenthood staffers are among those who attended the protest.

(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)

Hungarian lawmakers in March passed a bill that bans Pride events and allow authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify those who participate in them. MPs in April amended the Hungarian constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.

Budapest Pride is scheduled to take place on Saturday, despite the ban. Hundreds of European lawmakers are expected to participate.

“Sending strength to the patriotic Hungarians marching tomorrow to advance human dignity and fundamental rights in a country they love,” said David Pressman, the gay former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, on Friday on social media.

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District of Columbia

Man sentenced to 15 years in prison for drug deal that killed two DC gay men 

Prosecutors asked for 210 month sentence

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Brandon Román and Robbie Barletta (Photo via Instagram)

On Thursday Jevaughn Mark, 33, of D.C., was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison for running what prosecutors called a “prolific drug delivery service” that led to the fentanyl overdose deaths of two men in D.C.’s gay community.

The 15-year sentence comes three months after Mark, aka “Ledo,” pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl and 500 grams or more of cocaine, as well as unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon. As part of the plea deal, Mark accepted responsibility for causing the deaths of Brandon Román and Robert “Robbie” Barletta. U.S. District Court Judge Tanya S. Chutkan also ordered five years of supervised release following his prison term.

Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia argued that Mark knowingly sold fentanyl and was at least partially responsible for the men’s deaths. The office had asked the court for a 210-month sentence.

On Dec. 27, 2023, Román, 38, and Barletta, 28, were found unconscious in their Northwest Washington home after a 911 call brought police and emergency responders to the scene. A police investigation later revealed that Román had purchased what he believed was ketamine from Mark. DEA testing of the remaining drugs found no ketamine — only fentanyl, xylazine, and caffeine.

Friends and family members wore rainbow ribbons in solidarity with Román, a prominent D.C. attorney and LGBTQ rights advocate, and Barletta, a historic preservation expert and home renovation business owner — both of whom were active members of Washington’s gay community.

“There is no good outcome here,” Chutkan said from the bench before issuing the sentence. “These people didn’t deserve to die.”

While noting Mark’s “long record,” Chutkan opted for a sentence shorter than what the government had requested, citing what she believed to be genuine remorse.

“I believe Mr. Mark when he wishes he could take it back,” she said.

Following the sentencing, the Washington Blade spoke with Jeanine Pirro, the recently appointed U.S. Attorney for D.C., who echoed the judge’s compassion, but stood by her office’s push for a longer sentence.

“We had asked for more time,” Pirro said. “He’s a felon in possession, and there’s the fentanyl. But he’s got a prior record. There are various other crimes. This guy’s been operating with impunity.”

“My job is to make sure we recognize both Brandon and Robbie with dignity,” she added. “They are two very special human beings who should not have died — and they died as a result of not only someone else’s criminal behavior, but someone else’s reckless behavior in ignoring what he should not have ignored.”

DEA Special Agent in Charge Ibrar Mian emphasized the broader dangers of the drug trade in a written statement.

“The drug market is characterized by the illegal availability of polydrug mixtures, many of which have lethal amounts of fentanyl,” Mian said. “Criminals like Mr. Mark pose a deadly threat by selling drugs with fentanyl, which users unknowingly consume, often leading to their deaths. Illegal drug distribution affects the very foundations of our families and communities, so every time we take criminals like Mr. Mark off the streets, lives are saved.”

Mian also credited the DEA teams, USAO-DC litigators, and local and state partners for their work in investigating and removing “illegal drugs from this individual who was involved in violent activities.”

Asked whether she had a message for the LGBTQ community — statistically more vulnerable to substance use disorders than the general population — Pirro was direct about her commitment to equal justice.

“The only thing I can say to the LGBT community is that there is a level playing field here,” Pirro said. “Everybody gets the same justice. You have a problem, you have an issue, you come to me. I have a long history of fighting for equal rights for everyone. Everyone deserves dignity, everyone deserves protection, and everyone deserves justice — and you’re gonna get that from me.”

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District of Columbia

GLAA issues ratings in Ward 8 D.C. Council special election

Declines to rate ousted Council member Trayon White who’s seeking re-election

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Trayon White is seeking re-election after being expelled from the Council following his arrest on a federal bribery charge. (Washington Blade file photo by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.)

GLAA D.C., formerly known as the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, announced on June 22 its ratings for three of the four candidates running in the city’s July 15 Ward 8 D.C. Council special election, saying each of the three have records of support for the LGBTQ community.  

The election was called earlier this year when the Ward 8 seat became vacant after the Council voted unanimously to expel Ward 8 Council member Trayon White (D) following his arrest by the FBI on a federal bribery charge in August 2024.

White, who has denied any wrongdoing and was released while awaiting his trial scheduled for January 2026, is one of the four candidates running in the special election to regain his seat on the Council. Under D.C. law, he can legally run for office and serve again on the Council if he wins up until the time he is convicted of the criminal offense he is charged with.

While not mentioning White by name, in a statement accompanying its candidate ratings GLAA said it has a policy of not rating any candidates expelled or who resign from an elected position for ethics violations, including “malfeasance.”

The three candidates it rated – Sheila Bunn, Mike Austin, and Salim Adofo – are longtime Ward 8 community advocates who have been involved in local government affairs for many years and, according to LGBTQ activists who know them, have been supportive of LGBTQ rights. All three are running as Democrats.

White also has a record of supporting LGBTQ issues while serving on the Council since 2017.

GLAA rates candidates on a scale of -10, the lowest possible rating, to +10, its highest rating. Since it began candidate ratings in the 1970s it has based the ratings mostly on LGBTQ-related issues.

But in recent years, it has shifted gears to base the ratings mostly on non-LGBTQ specific issues, saying those issues — such as housing, healthcare, and a call for decriminalizing sex work — impact the LGBTQ community as well as all D.C. residents.

The following are the GLAA D.C. ratings for the three Ward 8 candidates it rated:

Sheila Bunn – 7.5

Mike Austin – 6.5

Salim Adofo – 4.5

Bunn is a former staff member for D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and has worked for former D.C. Mayor and later D.C. Council member Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7), a longtime strong supporter of the LGBTQ community.

Austin, an attorney, is a former chair of one of the Ward 8 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, served as chief of staff in the office of the D.C. Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, and worked on the staff of former Ward 7 Council member LaRuby May (D).

Adofo has served as a Ward 8 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner since 2018 and chair of his ANC since 2021. His campaign biographical information shows he  has been an advocate for affordable housing, improved health care and lower health costs in Ward 8. He is the only one of the Ward 8 special election candidates on the July 15 ballot to express support for LGBTQ rights on his campaign website.

“At the heart of our platform is a steadfast commitment to uplifting LGBTQ+ communities, ensuring that policy is shaped not just for them, but with them,” a statement on his website says.

As of early this week, White did not have a campaign website. He has won re-election for the Ward 8 Council seat in every election since 2017, including the November 2024 election following his August 2024 arrest.

The Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political group, which for many years has endorsed candidates running for public office in D.C., decided not to make an endorsement in the Ward 8 special election, according to the group’s president, Howard Garrett.

“We thought that this is best because this is a special election and in these unfamiliar times, we decided not to take a stand,” Garrett told the Washington Blade. But he said his group partnered with the Ward 8 Democrats organization in holding a candidate forum in which the Ward 8 candidates were asked questions “that related to our community.”

Longtime Ward 8 gay Democratic activist Phil Pannell, who is supporting Adofo, said he strongly feels GLAA’s 4.5 rating for Adofo does not reflect Adofo’s strong support for the LGBTQ community.

Fellow Ward 8 gay Democratic activist David Meadows said he is supporting Bunn, who he says also has a strong record of support for the LGBTQ community.

The Blade earlier this week asked each of the four Ward 8 candidates’ campaigns to provide a statement by the candidates explaining their position on LGBTQ issues. As of the end of the business day on June 24, the candidates had not yet responded. The Blade will report on those responses when they are received.   

The GLAA ratings and the group’s statement describing the responses to its questionnaire that each of the three candidates it rated submitted can be accessed here:  

The websites of the three candidates who have campaign websites, which provide full details of their positions and background, can be accessed here:

Sheila Bunn

Bunforward8.com

Mike Austin

Mikeaustin8.com

Salim Adofo

Salimforward8.com

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