Ex-DCF spokesman sentenced to 24 years

TAMPA - Bay area TV reporter Al Zimmerman was hired as the Department of Children and Families' chief spokesman on a strong reference from his friend, Governor Charlie Crist -- at the time, the state's attorney general.

Then came shocking news that Zimmerman, the very public face of the agency charged with protecting children, had been arrested for paying teen boys to make pornography, which he sold over the internet.

Adding insult to injury, one of the victims was a state foster child.

"I knew him and I was very, very shocked, and very, very let down," said DCF district chief Nick Cox. "I felt betrayed and so what he's got coming, he's got coming. You can't victimize kids."

Zimmerman came to federal court for sentencing with a plea deal in his hand that said 15 years minimum mandatory, but he decided -- according to his lawyers -- to do the right thing.

Zimmerman was in tears as he told the judge he's prayed for those he hurt and that he'd asked them for forgiveness. Zimmerman thanked his family for their support, and said he wanted to spare his parents and his victims the pain and embarrassment of a sentencing hearing.

Eric Kuske, Zimmerman's lawyer, called it one of the most selfless things he'd ever seen a defendant do.

"Somebody who probably could have had a significant downward departure in prison time said to himself, I'm going to take this as it stands, and I don't want it to come out. I want to protect the victims," Kuske said.

It left Judge Susan Bucklew no choice but to sentence Zimmerman to 24 years. And it won praise from an unlikely source, prosecutor Colleen Murphy.

"I'm heartened," Murphy told FOX 13, "by the fact that he didn't put the victims through any sentencing issues, wherein they would have to testify. And I'm also heartened by the fact that he actually requested sex offender treatment."

Zimmerman, with time off for good behavior, will be in his 60s before he's done his time.