Last spring, a former Select Board member made headlines for his arrest on allegations of having shown a pornographic video to two minors.
Through a plea agreement accepted by the court last week, David Parry is now only being charged with a misdemeanor, and the case Continued Without a Finding for 6 months (with some restrictions).
The bottom line is, if there are no repeat incidents or new accusations over the next 6 months, the charges will be dismissed.
In May, the Southborough Police had issued a press release about the incident at a downtown restaurant and charges being pressed against Parry for “two counts of Dissemination of Matter Harmful to Minors”.
Parry pleaded Not Guilty in Westborough District Court, where, according to Metrowest Daily News:
[David Parry] was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation and any recommended treatment; have no contact with any minors and no unsupervised contact with minors in his home; to stay away from the Southborough House of Pizza and St. Mark’s School; and to stay away from all schools and parks.
He was also ordered to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet.
Publicly, Parry asserted that the incident was “a perfectly innocent mistake” and blamed it on a technology mishap with his smart phone.
Parry’s Westborough District Court date was scheduled for last Thursday, and I sought an update through the Southborough Police Department. Details shared by Police Chief Ryan Newell were confirmed today by the Worcester County DA’s office, with some clarifications.
Communications Lindsay Corcoran explained that the plea agreement included dropping one charge and reducing another to a misdemeanor for Accosting or Annoying another person. Parry changed his plea to accept the recommendation that the charges be amended and continued (which is different than pleading guilty).
Corcoran also confirmed that the court ruled that during the six months, Parry is to have no unsupervised contact with children, with the exception of two juvenile family members. And there is still a Stay Away/No Contact order in place for the two alleged juvenile victims. (The juveniles’ parents were notified about the changes and purportedly were alright with it.)
