As part of a deal with the federal court, a youth dance competition emcee switched his plea from not guilty to guilty Tuesday to possessing more than 1,000 images of child pornography. Paul Michael Barbour, 33, of Long Beach, also admitted to secretly recording little girls in their dressing room at a Cypress College dance meet on May 31.
]
Paul Michael Barbour Child Porn Case Kicked Up to Feds, Who Take Him into Custody
Barbour will get a minimum of five years–and maximum of 20 years–in prison when he is sentenced Oct. 20, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District 0f California.
The 33-year-old Long Beach resident could also get slapped with a $250,000 fine and a lifetime of supervised release, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Shay told City News Service's Fred Shuster at the Los Angeles federal courthouse.
Barbour, wearing green jail clothing and shackled at the ankles, waist and wrists, answered, “Yes sir, I do,” when U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson asked if he understood the single felony charge of receipt of child pornography against him.
“Absolutely, your honor,” Barbour replied when Anderson asked if the defendant was aware of the maximum sentence he could receive. The defendant also acknowledged being aware that more than 1,000 photos and 10 videos found on his computer depicted preteen and prepubescent girls. Shuster reported before the change-of-plea hearing that among the images was one of an 8- to 10-year-old girl with an adult male.
There's no evidence so far that suggests Barbour made any of the child porn or that children from the dance academy or dance competitions he worked around the country were filmed, authorities have stressed. But if anyone knows such evidence exists or has had unlawful encounters with Barbour, they are asked to contact the Cypress Police Department at 714.229.3391 or the Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force (OCCETF) via oc****@ic*.gov.
Barbour, who was also found to be in possession of LSD and magic mushrooms when he was arrested on June 1, acknowledged in the plea deal that he had been using drugs and watching child porn since he was a teen. Under the agreement filed July 25, he consented to: registering as a sex offender possibly for life; participating in psychological counseling which may include residential treatment; having no contact with minors; and not working in a business that deals with children.
Which would mean Barbour's career with Cypress-based Kids Artistic Review is over. Before the May 31 competition at Cypress College, the self-described “emcee, presenter, DJ” with the dance production company hid a digital video camera inside a changing room used by girls ages 12 and 15. But a competitor's mother found the camera and turned it over to Cypress Police.
A subsequent search of Barbour's desktop computer at his residence uncovered the Mother Lode of child porn–in both still and video form. The disturbing discovery produced criminal charges against him from the Orange County District Attorney's office. But the state prosecutors later dropped the case and allowed the U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles to re-file it as a federal case because that would put Barbour on the hook for more prison time. The maximum sentence with a conviction would have been seven years in state court versus up to 10 years in federal lockup, authorities explained at the time.
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.