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Feds: Ex-DCF Official Sold Porn
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Published: February 12, 2008
TAMPA - A former state Department of Children & Families spokesman now faces federal charges of producing child pornography that prosecutors say he was selling in Germany.
Also Monday, prosecutors argued in court that Al Zimmerman is a flight risk and a danger to the community, and should be denied bail.
At Monday's hearing, prosecutor Colleen Murphy told Judge Mark Pizzo that Zimmerman should be held without bail because the 41-year-old has a "lack of ties, no job, no property, no assets and no children." She said he is living with his parents.
Zimmerman is accused in a federal complaint of making sexually explicit photos and videos of two boys who were 16 at the time, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Murphy said Zimmerman often corresponded by e-mail with the boys using his work computer. Zimmerman told authorities he didn't know the boys were underage, Murphy said.
Zimmerman used a fake name when e-mailing the boys, she said, and told the boys he would sell the pictures and "make money for him and them."
Murphy said Zimmerman has recently seen a psychologist and might have obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Wearing a white T-shirt, Nike shorts and sneakers, Zimmerman sat in court with his legs shackled. His attorney, Brian Albritton, said Zimmerman has ties to the community: his parents.
Albritton asked the judge to continue the hearing so Zimmerman's parents could be present. Shortly after the hearing ended, Zimmerman, who grew up in Lakeland, was taken away by U.S. marshals.
The hearing will resume Wednesday.
Investigators say the incidents took place in 2006 and 2007, and that Zimmerman paid both juveniles for the pictures in cash or by money order. Zimmerman sent an e-mail to one of the boys and discussed the production of child pornography, payment and how the photographs would be brokered in Germany, authorities said.
If convicted of the federal charge, Zimmerman faces a minimum of 15 years in federal prison and a maximum of 30 years.
Teens Given Alcohol, Affidavit Says
Zimmerman met one of the boys through work, according to a federal affidavit.
Zimmerman, who was fired after his first arrest Feb. 1, told investigators he gave the teen money "because he gave a 'crap' about the kid and wanted to make him happy," according to the affidavit filed in U.S. District Court.
The former television reporter was arrested on eight state charges of using a child in a sexual performance. Authorities have said he offered money to two boys in exchange for having them take pictures of themselves masturbating. Zimmerman was released the next day on $120,000 bail.
The federal complaint details allegations of Zimmerman's interaction with two teenage boys. It says one of the boys told investigators he saw photographs on Zimmerman's computer of an unspecified number of teenage boys he knows. The teen gave the boys' names to investigators but they have not been interviewed yet, the affidavit states.
The affidavit details explicit e-mail messages authorities say Zimmerman sent, describing particular poses and activities he wanted depicted in the photos.
One boy described in the affidavit as a victim told investigators Zimmerman once invited him to a hotel room where he was staying.
Zimmerman also gave him alcohol and offered him $200 to perform oral sex on him, the affidavit states. The boy declined, but Zimmerman had another proposition, according to the affidavit.
Zimmerman offered to pay the boy for nude photos of himself, describing specifically how he wanted the boy to pose, the complaint states.
The teen told investigators he ran away from foster care but continued to communicate with Zimmerman and began to send him nude photographs. He was paid by Western Union and Amscot money services, the complaint states.
As investigators were searching Zimmerman's home and getting ready to arrest him, Zimmerman sent a DCF technician, Michael Hernandez, to his house, according to a federal affidavit. Hernandez encountered investigators in the driveway of Zimmerman's home, the complaint states.
Zimmerman Anticipated Trouble
Hernandez told investigators he had been talking to Zimmerman on his cell phone and "admitted he had called Zimmerman to inform him of the presence of police at" the home, the complaint states. Hernandez said Zimmerman had told him to watch his house because he was afraid he would be arrested if he returned home. Zimmerman had learned his boss was called to an emergency meeting and became suspicious, according to the complaint.
Hernandez told investigators that two days before the search, at Zimmerman's request, he put Zimmerman's home computer in a trash bin. Hernandez said Zimmerman was afraid police would seize the computer and that the spokesman did not want police to have access to the computer, the complaint states.
Hernandez also admitted that two days prior to the execution of the search warrant, he had "wiped" and reformatted the laptop that the department had assigned to Zimmerman, the complaint states.
Another boy - the one who said his friends were photographed - told investigators he met Zimmerman through a friend in 2006 when he was 15 or 16 and a sophomore in high school, the complaint states. The boy said he and friends would go to Zimmerman's home in Tampa, where he would give them alcohol, according to the complaint.
Zimmerman proposed photographing the boy both dressed and in the nude in exchange for cash, the complaint states. The sessions occurred over several months when the boy was 16 and 17 years old. Zimmerman directed the boy how to pose, including masturbation, the complaint states.
He said Zimmerman paid him in cash in person and once wired him money via Western Union. Zimmerman also sent cash through the mail, sometimes hidden inside a compact disc case, the complaint states.
The boy saved e-mail messages from Zimmerman and gave them to investigators, according to the complaint. Some "corresponded with an IP address listed for the State of Florida Department of Children & Families," the complaint states.
In one particularly explicit e-mail listed in the complaint, Zimmerman described a number of possible poses and wrote, "Usually the wilder the photo the higher the price."
Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.
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