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Hillsborough jail investigating lawyer who filmed sex acts in Pinellas jail

The Tampa lawyer accused of recording himself engaging in sex acts with an inmate at the Pinellas County Jail is also under investigation for five visits to jails in Hillsborough County this year .

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Zachary T. Sampson
, Tampa Bay Times Staff Writer, Tampa Bay Times

The Tampa lawyer accused of recording himself engaging in sex acts with an inmate at the Pinellas County Jail is also under investigation for five visits to jails in Hillsborough County this year .

Andrew B. Spark, 55 , met with two inmates who are no longer detained in the jails, said Hillsborough sheriff's Cpl. Larry McKinnon. It's unclear if the lawyer had inappropriate contact with either inmate, McKinnon said, or if he was actually representing them.

Spark was arrested Sunday as part of an investigation into his meetings with two women in a private room reserved for lawyers visiting clients in the Pinellas jail, said Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. He had sexual relations with a 28-year-old woman at least six times and filmed the activity, investigators said. Spark is also accused of soliciting sex from another woman, 25, before deputies said they caught him in the act Sunday and arrested him .

There is no evidence that Spark actually represented the women, the sheriff said. Officials said he's no longer allowed to enter the Pinellas County Jail, from which he was freed Sunday after posting $5,300 bail.

He faces a felony charge of introduction or possession of contraband in a county detention facility and misdemeanor charges of exposure of sexual organs and solicitation for prostitution.

Spark would put $30 or $40 into the 28-year-old woman's commissary account, Gualtieri said, and told her he was uploading the videos to the Internet. He told the 25-year-old woman he was producing a pornographic video called Girls in Jail, according to deputies.

Gualtieri said Spark may have had similar meetings in jails across Tampa Bay and Central Florida. Jail officials in Pasco, Hernando and Polk counties said Tuesday they have found no record of Spark recently visiting inmates at their facilities.

The Florida Bar Association said Tuesday that it opened an investigation into Spark, who was admitted in 1991 and has no prior disciplinary history. A Bar spokeswoman said Spark has not been suspended and is still eligible to practice law. He works for SparkLaw in Tampa and served as an assistant attorney general for the state from 2004-11.

The felony contraband charge stems from Spark bringing an iPad into the Pinellas jail without advance notice, according to an arrest report. Investigators said he used the device to film a sex act.

Spark did not return calls for comment this week.

The room for attorney-client meetings has no recording equipment and just a small window in the door, Gualtieri said, because inmates must be able to meet confidentially with lawyers. Pinellas deputies do not check court files to see if a lawyer is linked to an inmate before allowing use of the room.

McKinnon said there is a similar setup for attorney visits in Hillsborough.

Spark met the 28-year-old before she was locked up on drug charges, investigators said, paying her for sex after finding her prostitution ads online. He met the 25-year-old last year at a Tampa porn convention, according to deputies, before she was detained while facing a federal charge in a child pornography case.

Times senior news researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report. Contact Zachary T. Sampson at zsampson@tampabay.com or (727) 893-8804.

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