Community Work Will Free Lowe of Sex Taping Trial

Actor Rob Lowe will perform community service in Los Angeles to avoid prosecution on charges that he videotaped a girl performing a sex act at an Atlanta hotel during the 1988 Democratic National Convention, the prosecutor in the Georgia city said Saturday.

Lowe had faced a possible criminal charge of sexual exploitation of a minor, with a maximum 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine, said Dist. Atty. Lewis R. Slaton.

Lowe, 25, and his father met with Slaton on Friday, almost a year after he allegedly taped the sex scene between Jan Parsons, who was 16 at the time, and a female companion.

“I needed to talk to him to size him up to see if he was OK for the program,” Slaton said. “I felt the young man fit in, but I had to be sure of his attitude.”

Lowe will work 20 hours with disadvantaged youths in Los Angeles-area schools and “stay out of trouble,” for two years, Slaton said, adding that terms of the program will be worked out in the next few weeks. The agreement was part of the state’s pretrial intervention program, “a hybrid alternative” to prosecution for young, nonviolent first offenders, Slaton said.

Lowe, who is currently making a film in Los Angeles, remains the subject of a civil suit brought by Parsons’ mother, who claims the actor seduced her daughter.