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Loading ...Design Star Cop Investigated For Gay Porn Connection
07.18.2008 12:07pm EDT
(Hollywood, Florida) A Hollywood, Florida police officer who was a contestant on HGTV’s Design Star has been suspended from duty while the force investigates allegations he once starred in a gay porn video.
”Verdugo has been placed on administrative leave with pay pending the outcome of a fact-finding Internal Affairs investigation,” Hollywood police spokesperson Lt. Manny Marino told the Miami Herald.Verdugo could face sanctions or dismissal from the force if the department finds he brought discredit to the force.
Suggestions that the 34-year old appeared in the 1996 S&M video Rope Rituals have been circulating on internet blogs.
Verdugo’s attorney, Al Milian, will neither confirm not deny that the man in the video who resembles his client is in fact Verdugo.
“I think every police officer during their career are subject to investigations. The overwhelming number of allegations are always found to be unfounded,” Milian told WTVJ-television.
Milian said that Verdugo came out in 2004 and that since then he has had to deal with discrimination and harassment.
“I think when you have a certain lifestyle in the 21st century, you’re always going to be subject to heightened scrutiny,” Milian told the station.
Verdugo joined the police force in 2001.
Milian said he is prepared to defend Verdugo’s record and outstanding contribution to the community.
Christopher O’Neal, the producer of Rope Rituals told The Herald that he does not believe Verdugo is the actor who appeared in the film.
”I think they’ve got the wrong guy,” O’Neal told The Herald.
©365Gay.com 2008
Who cares? Even if the guy in the film and the cop are one and the same, the video was made in 1996. Verdugo did not join the Hollywood Police Department until 2001. Being in a pornographic movie is not illegal to my my knowledge, so this would have no bearing on his ability to enforce the law.
The issue may be one of morality, which does not surprise me since the City of Hollywood requires its employees to sign a declaration stating that they do not smoke cigarettes and will not do so during the term of their employment. Again, I point out that the movie was made prior to Verdugo’s employment with the PD, so I fail to see what the problem is.
What an insult!! Now, even if he was a Pastor of a church, it is before he was on the force. He is young and possibly did something, OOPS, that he regrets or isn’t proud of. Doesn’t make him a bad person, cop, or gay man. Mikey V, you fight this till the end.