Behind the Badge
A 33-year-old man who emceed children’s dance contests and secretly recorded young girls changing was sentenced on Monday to eight years in federal prison on child pornography charges.
Paul Michael Barbour, of Long Beach, pleaded guilty in August after Cypress Police arrested him for hiding a digital video camera in a girls’ dressing room during a competition at Cypress College.
Barbour worked for Cypress-based Kids Artistic Review, and emceed dance events across the nation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
As part of the deal he struck with federal prosecutors, Barbour also agreed to register as a sex offender, enroll in psychological counseling and refrain from working in any place with children.
A probe from Cypress PD and members of the Orange County Child Exploitation Task Force, including special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s and Homeland Security Investigations, investigated Barbour’s case.
The agencies served a search warrant at Barbour’s Long Beach home and found narcotics and a computer with several thousand images and 10 videos with children engaged in sexually explicit content, prosecutors said.
The children in Barbour’s pornography repertoire ranged in age from 8 to 15.
Prosectors said they did not believe Barbour published any of the pornography he collected.
Cypress Cmdr. Tom Bruce said the case started with an astute parent finding the camera and turning it over to police.
From there, it was a multi-agency effort to put Barbour behind bars.
“There were so many hands in this case to ensure Barbour was brought to justice,” Bruce said. “I’m am so grateful for the allied agency collaboration.”
