POWHATAN COUNTY, Va. — After more than five hours of deliberation that spanned from Wednesday night into early Thursday morning, a jury returned a split verdict in the trial of Joseph Parker.
Jurors found Parker guilty on all 12 counts of aggravated sexual battery of someone under the age of 13 and not guilty on all six counts of taking indecent liberties with a child by a person in a supervisory role.
The judge ordered a pre-sentence report for Parker and approved a request from prosecutors that he undergo a psycho-sexual evaluation.
Those will both take around 60 days after which Parker can be sentenced.
"The Powhatan Commonwealth Attorney’s office is please and gratified with the jury’s verdict. It was obviously a difficult case, but the jury put the time and the effort in to sift the evidence and reach a just out come. All citizen of Powhatan should be proud of their efforts," Powhatan County Commonwealth's Attorney Rob Cerullo said in a statement to CBS 6 following the verdict. "I would also like to commend the strength and fortitude of the young victims and their families in this case. They came forward and faced their abuser – they were able to set aside the fear and the trauma this man caused and in doing so made Powhatan a safer place. The Sherriff’s Office, the victim witness office and the child advocacy center did an outstanding job in helping us get this outcome and I would like to publicly thank them for their hard work and assistance in this case."
Parker's attorney Ed Riley said via text that "the family is terribly disappointed by the guilty findings."
According to the state code for aggravated sexual battery, it is "punishable by confinement in a state correctional facility for a term of not less than one nor more than 20 years and by a fine of not more than $100,000". Which means Parker faces a minimum of 12 years in prison when he is sentenced and up to 240 years.
Parker is the former owner of Fast Feet Sports Academy in Powhatan and was accused of sexually abusing six girls who attended the program.
Closing arguments were presented Wednesday evening after two days of witness testimony that saw 23 people called by prosecutors and 10 called by the defense, including Parker.
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Trial begins for former Powhatan sports academy owner accused of sexual abuse
Closing Arguments
In his closing arguments, Deputy Commonwealth's Attorney Timothy Dustan told the jurors that it had been over a year since "a bomb went off" in the lives of the girls and their families and that this trial was a chance for the Powhatan community to have a conversation about what it was willing to tolerate and what it was willing to turn a blind eye to.
Dustan then went through the allegations that each girl made against Parker, or "Coach Joe" as most called him. This included him allegedly touching several girls' chests or butts over top of their shirts, while others said he slid his hand under their shirts and onto their chest or down their pants and put his hand between their legs.
He added that several of the girls said they had seen Parker touching some of the other alleged victims and asked the jurors to think back through all the evidence and consider the bravery of the girls' testimony and find Parker guilty on all counts.
In his closing, Parker's attorney, Ed Riley, told the jurors this case meant a lot to his client and his family.
Riley said his client denied doing any of the actions he is accused of and added the prosecution had failed to remove all reasonable doubt to prove the charges against him. Riley added while his client did admit to doing some things like tickling a child or letting them sit on his knee, though it may make some people uncomfortable, none of that is illegal.
He added that the testimony through the trial showed that Fast Feet was a busy place and asked how these alleged illegal acts could have happened without anyone seeing them and said the only people who testified that they had were among the six alleged victims.
Riley also focused on how several of the girls' testimony on the stand differed from what they have told an interviewer last year when the investigation began. He pointed back to testimony from an expert witness on children's testimony in abuse cases, where she admitted that children can change their narratives based on pressure from people they are talking to.
But, Riley argued even if the jury believed that Parker did do what the girls alleged, his action of placing his hands where he did but not doing anything more, like squeezing, showed there was no sexual gratification behind the act and did not rise to the level of the criminal acts he is accused of.
Dustan was given the final say before deliberations began and countered Riley's sexual gratification argument and said the act of reaching up a shirt or down pants was the gratification.
He told jurors that the change in testimony from last year was no reason to let Parker off the hook and that they could not arbitrarily disregard believable testimony.
He close by reiterating that this was a chance for the community to show what it stood for and asked the jury to hold Parker accountable for what he did to these children.
Fourth Alleged Victim and Parent
The fourth alleged victim and one of her parents testified to start the second day of the trial. The girl said Parker made her uncomfortable as, more than once, he would "hug me from behind" and put his hand on her chest area. She added Parker would also tickle and poke her on the shoulders, her side, and stomach.
The girl said she did not like what he did, but did not say anything to stop it.
Fifth Alleged Victim and Parent
The fifth alleged victim and one of her parents testified next. The girl said that Parker was "touching me in the wrong spots" and said that more than once, when she sat on his lap, he put his hands under her clothes and on her breasts and "lower stomach."
The academy had a morning program where they drove kids to school from the academy and the girl said one time when they were waiting on the bus for school to open, Parker put his hand under her shirt and on her breast.
She added that she saw Parker putting his hand up another of the alleged victim's shirts for a two week period.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Alice Sheridan then asked the girl about her testimony with a forensic interviewer at a Child Advocacy Center (CAC) and why she told the interviewer that nothing had happened with Parker and the girl said it was because she did not know the woman asking the questions. She said she went home and told her parents what had happened with Parker and that is when she went back for a second interview at the CAC and discussed what allegedly happened.
On cross examination, Riley asked the girl if she had gotten into trouble at Fast Feet for saying bad things and had told lies, which she said she had.
Riley also asked the girl about her telling the CAC interviewer during that second visit that she had not seen Parker touch anyone else (the opposite of what she said on the stand) and the girl said she did not remember telling the interviewer that.
When asked, she denied that she had talked with people about what to say today.
Sixth Alleged Victim and Parent
The sixth and final alleged victim testified next, along with her legal guardian.
The girl said Parker would put his hand under her shirt and on her chest when she was in various places in the academy, including in the gym and in the cafeteria when she ate alone. She added that she saw Parker touch some of the other alleged victims as well.
On cross examination, Riley asked if the girl remembered telling the CAC interviewer that nothing had happened, which she confirmed she said. When asked if that was a lie, she said no.
CAC Interviewer
The next witness was the woman who conducted the interviews at the CAC with five of the six girls. She said they typically do not know much about the crimes they are interviewing the kids about, and aim to provide a neutral place to allow the kids to talk about what happened.
She said they do not ask leading questions, but ask open-ended ones to allow children to lead the conversation
Fast Feet Manager
The 16th overall witness for the prosecution was the woman who was the manager of Fast Feet below Parker.
She described how instructors were told by Paker about the rules on touching between kids and instructors, referred to as "coaches." She said there were no specific rules, but guidelines about respecting boundaries, and two examples were to avoid head-on hugs with kids and give them hugs from the side of the body. She added Parker instructed coaches to keep their hands closed when hugging kids so their fingers did not linger.
The manager said Parker did not follow this rule all the time and said she saw him give hugs with open hands.
The manager then recalled how two of the alleged victims approached her on Friday, February 28, 2025 and told her what Parker allegedly did (the two were the second and fifth girls to provide testimony). She said she told her boyfriend about it and then told her mom that Sunday. She then called a Powhatan County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) lieutenant and told her later that day.
The manager said she spoke with Parker about the allegations after deputies told him he was under investigation. She said she did not tell him which girls had come and spoken to her, but that Parker had indicated he thought it was the fifth girl to testify. She added that he denied the allegations, but was mad and upset at the child he believed had made the allegations.
Other Fast Feet Coaches
Four more people who served at Fast Feet as coaches throughout the years also testified for the prosecution.
One, a man who was the then-boyfriend to the manager (and is now her fiancé), said that Parker showed favoritism to girls in the academy and would make comments about girls getting older, hitting puberty and their bodies changing.
Another, a girl, said Parker would touch girls more often and one time saw Parker in his office with a girl on his lap and he was rubbing her back. She added when the academy had days at a lake in the summer, she saw Parker cup a girl's breasts when throwing her into the water.
On cross examination, Riley asked if the coach reported the grabbing at the lake. She said she told people she thought it was odd. When Riley asked if she knew the context of Parker rubbing the girl's back in the office, she said no.
The third coach said Parker "somewhat" treated boys and girls differently at the academy and talked about girls "developing" and "going through puberty." She added she would see him in his office with a girl on his lap. She also admitted on cross examination that she did not know the context of what she saw.
The fourth coach testified about Parker telling coaches the instructions on side hugs and closed fists, and that it was something that Parker usually abided by. But he said he had never seen Parker touch a student in a problematic way.
The fourth coach added that Parker spoke to him and some other coaches about the allegations after they came to light. He said Parker speculated it was the fifth alleged victim because the family was having issues making payments to stay enrolled in the program.
Parent Testimony
The next witness was the mother of two kids who went to the academy. She described a time coming to pick her kids up. She had parked the car, she saw Parker through the front window with his arm around a girl. When the girl shifted, Parker's hand went to her bottom.
The woman said when Parker saw her, he waved. She said she "froze" and did not know what to do, but texted a friend about what she saw. When asked on cross examination if she ever talked to Parker about this, she said she did not.
Expert Witness
The penultimate witness for the prosecution was a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, who qualified as an expert.
She did not conduct any interviews with the alleged victims, but testified to the dynamics involved in children reporting, or not reporting, cases of sexual abuse. She said that it was common for children to not report abuse right away for a number of reasons (ex., worried they might get in trouble, worried they might not be believed, concern for the perpetrator).
She also said it can take time for children to reveal all the details of what happened to them, and that inconsistent stories are normal for the process and it does not mean the kids are being untruthful.
She said kids can lie about abuse happening to them, but said it is "quite rare."
On cross examination, when asked if a child telling inconsistent statements could be called a lie, the witness said she would want to explore that further. When asked if kids could change their narrative in order to please their current audience, she said they could.
Powhatan Investigator
The last witness for the prosecution was the PCSO lieutenant who led the investigation of Parker.
The lieutenant said she interviewed the manager the day after she was first called, and looped in Child Protective Services. They made the decision to interview Parker that same day since he was in charge of a facility that had kids in it.
She said Parker was surprised about the allegations but "didn't deny them right off the bat," but said it could not happen at the academy because of the set-up. She added Parker went into his policies about giving side hugs and using closed hands and said if kids were on his lap, it was actually on his knee.
The lieutenant said Parker listed some of the girls he thought could have made the accusations (and named three of the alleged victims). She said he then said one of the girls he mentioned had behavioral issues and another "wanted male attention."
She added Parker said there was a lot of touching in the academy because there were so many kids, and some did sit on his knee or climbed on him.
The lieutenant said she and a CPS worker tried to get Parker to agree to a verbal safety plan in place that meant Parker would not touch the kids at all. She said Parker emphatically agreed at first, but later said he wanted to still be able to give side hugs.
The lieutenant said later she then asked a special grand jury be convened earlier than usual because they were getting calls from parents that Parker was still giving side hugs.
When Parker was arrested, taken in for an interview, and told about the specific children who had made allegations against him, he made comments about the fifth alleged victim and said she was "vindictive" and exposed herself a lot. She added when she asked about interactions with her on the bus, Parker said no one sat on his lap, but acknowledged she leaned on his leg. He added that he did put the back of his hand on her belly at one point.
Of the third alleged victim, the lieutenant said Parker said she was one of his "social services projects" and was seeking male attention.
On cross examination, Riley asked how could Parker have denied wrongdoing during the first encounter with the PCSO when they did not give him details about the allegations, but just told him he was under investigation.
Defense Witnesses
CAC Interviewer
For the defense's first witness, they brought back in the CAC employee who conducted interviews with five of the girls. They played a clip from the interview for the second alleged victim where she was asked if Parker had touched her "boobies" and she shook her head no (something she said on the stand he did do). They also played a clip from the interview with the third alleged victim where she was asked if Parker asked her to keep a secret and she said no (something she testified in the trial that he did ask her to do).
Former Coaches
The defense then called two former coaches to the stand. Both testified that he gave them protocols on how to act with the children (side hugs, closed hands) and said they never saw Parker acting inappropriately or inappropriately touching any of the kids in the program.
Family Friends
A young woman who was a family friend of the Parkers said she was at Fast Feet a few times with her mom when she was helping out as a coach and had known Parker her entire life. She said she never saw Parker act inappropriately with kids and he was never inappropriate with her.
A friend of one of Parker's daughters said she had been at Fast Feet when the daughter was working there, and never saw Parker touch kids inappropriately.
Parker's Family
Parker's mom, two daughters, and wife all testified and said they worked at the academy in different capacities. Most said they had never seen Parker touch any child inappropriately.
One of Parker's daughters said if kids tried to sit on their laps, they would tell them no. On cross examination she was asked if it would violate the rules if they did not get the kids off, and the daughter said there were some who had special circumstances.
Parker's wife said when she was at the academy helping she mostly saw Parker with parents, or in the office and not interacting with kids.
She added that when Parker was arrested she went through all of his files and messages to see if there was any evidence he had committed the crimes he was accused of, and she found none. When asked on cross examination if she reached out to investigators to share what she found, she said no. Parker's attorney followed up and asked if investigators ever reached out to her and she said no.
Parker Takes the Stand
The final witness of the trial was Parker himself.
He denied ever touching any of the girls in the ways they described.
He was asked about the fifth alleged witness and said she had some behavioral issues and was on final notice of being removed from the program several times.
He added there was only one kid in the program who was allowed in his office. He said he was her "safe person" and she had permission to go into his office if she needed a moment alone, and sometimes she would sit on his knee and cry. He said he reported each time to her parents.
Parker did say he would touch kids in some circumstances, like on lake days when they tossed kids into the water, but said that would be on the waist or armpits. He added kids did not sit on his lap, which he described as above his mid-thigh, but kept them on his knee.
On cross examination, Parker was asked about comments he made during his first interaction with investigators when they told him an investigation was underway. When first asked if he remembered saying he had never heard a complaint before, Parker said he did. But when asked again, Parker said he recalled the interaction with one of the alleged victims' dad, who told him not to tickle his daughter.
Prosecutors asked if he was referring to the dad who testified on the first day that Parker was straddling his daughter and tickling her. Parker said he did not remember straddling her, but was chasing her with her brother to tickle her.
Prosecutors then went through each girl and their allegations, and Parker denied each one.
When prosecutors asked if he remembered telling investigators he put his hand on the fifth victim's belly while on the bus, Parker said he did, but it was not in an inappropriate place or for an inappropriate reason. He said he was putting his cold hand on her skin to shock her.
Parker was then asked if he remembered telling investigators the fifth alleged victim was a "vindictive, terrible person," which he said he did not remember. When asked if he recalled saying the third alleged victim was a "social services project," he said he did not remember.
When asked if he thought all of the alleged victims were lying and made up the accusations, Parker said "yes."
When asked about the coaches testifying that they saw a kid in his office, Parker said it was the one child who had an exception.
This is a developing story. Email the CBS 6 Newsroom if you have additional information to share.
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