SC ex-police chief pleads guilty to federal crimes related to sexual coercion
A former Midlands police chief is now behind bars for coercing one woman into having sex with him and attempting to coerce another.
William “Billy” Parker pleaded guilty in a federal courtroom in Columbia on Monday.
Parker, 66, served as a law enforcement officer in South Carolina for more than 40 years, the court was told, including a stint as the police chief of the small town of Pine Ridge from 2011 to 2017. Pine Ridge is a town of about 2,000 people in Lexington County, near the junction of Interstate 26 and Interstate 77.
Parker used that position to coerce two women close to him into non-consensual sex acts. Using a phony email account and a “burner” cellphone, Parker sent threatening messages to both women saying he would harm them or their families if they did not reply with pornographic images and videos of themselves.
The women sought Parker’s advice on the messages, not knowing he was the one sending them. Parker advised them to comply so that he could get the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division to track the messages. He made no attempt to do so, prosecutors Elliott Daniels and Elle Klein told Judge Cameron Currie on Monday.
The mysterious sender of the threatening messages then demanded the women film themselves having sex with Parker. “If they didn’t, he said he would send the images they had already sent him to their church, work, family and friends,” Klein said.
In one case, Parker told the woman they would “fake” having sex for the camera, but then forced himself on her.
“When she asked him why, he told her they had to make it look real,” Klein said.
In the other case, the woman went so far as to appear nude on camera, but “when Parker asked to touch her breasts, she declined to keep recording,” Klein said. Suspicious of the situation, the woman then went to the police.
The messages began “at least on or about February 16, 2021, and continuing through on or about February 5, 2022,” according to information the U.S. attorney’s office provided to the court. Daniels told the court prosecutors believe there may be other victims than the two women who have so far cooperated with law enforcement.
The court filing identifies Parker using the aliases “John Wayne” and “Willie Boner.”
Parker pleaded guilty to making an interstate threat with the intent to extort, and to cyberstalking resulting in serious bodily injury. He faced up to 20 years on the first charge and 10 years on the second.
Parker was arrested in Lexington County last year and charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and attempted criminal sexual conduct by the Lexington County Sheriff’s Office. He faced up to 10 years in a South Carolina prison on those charges.
As part of his plea agreement, U.S. Attorney Adair Burroughs will recommend that those state charges be dropped by the Lexington County Solicitor’s Office, Currie was told.
Attorney Jason Peavy spoke on behalf of the victims Monday, saying the women wished to speak themselves but had not been emotionally prepared to appear publicly or hear the crimes recounted. “They couldn’t bear to be here,” Peavy said. “They’re undergoing the steps they need to heal.”
Peavy called Parker’s conduct some of the most deplorable he had encountered in 20 years of practicing law.
Parker turned himself in on Monday without being indicted, choosing to plead guilty to the charges based on information prosecutors provided to the court. He will be sentenced Jan. 31.
Before appearing in Currie’s courtroom, Parker appeared before Magistrate Judge Shiva Hodges for bond on his federal charges, on which prosecutors supported giving him a secured release, with home detention and monitoring. He had been free on bond on the criminal sexual conduct charges since February 2022 without a violation, defense attorneys Steve Hisker and John Meadors told the court.
Hodges sounded skeptical of those release conditions, especially when she heard Parker and his wife had three minor grandchildren living at home with them. She deferred imposing bond until after Parker’s guilty plea, when she could confer with Currie. When Parker reappeared in Hodges’ courtroom, she said his guilty plea to a violent crime required mandatory detention prior to his sentencing, and he was taken from the courtroom by U.S. Marshals.
Hisker asked that in light of Parker’s long career in law enforcement and likely connection to inmates locally, that he be housed outside of the Midlands during his detention. Hodges said any housing decisions would be made by the U..S. Marshals Service.
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