Former industry salesman Mike Barbella was scheduled for arraingmnet this morning. Barbella was arrested by LAPD two weeks ago on a suspected kiddie porn beef:

Porn Valley- Because it’s the story making the rounds in the adult business today, it’s got to be reported. Former adult industry salesman Mike Barbella was arrested by LAPD this week on kiddie porn charges.

Whether Barbella was operating sites, taking pictures with underage children or communicating with law enforcement posing as minors is not clear. But Barbella was taken into custody earlier this week.

Throughout his controversial career Barbella has worked for at least a dozen adult studios at one time or another in a sales capacity but was eventually fired from those positions due to drug abuse or his volatile temper. However Barbella would always land another position because he was considered a good salesman. Barbella’s last known job in the industry was with Elegant Angel and he was also employed by other adult companies such as Metro, Astral Ocean, and JM Productions.

A computer repairman on the side, Barbella has had a series of economic reverses and had been staying with a friend, Steve Volponi, a salesman for Devil’s Film. According to Volponi, he basically gave Barbella, who had been living there at least six months, the run of the house. According to Volponi, Barbella would sometimes disappear for several days at a time and when questioned as to his whereabouts would get sarcastic and start calling Volponi “daddy”.

The police, arriving in riot gear, at 7am Tuesday morning confiscated five of Barbella’s lap top computers which were on the premises.

Volponi, who answered the door was handcuffed briefly and questioned outside by the police. But it was quickly determined that Volponi was not implicated, although Barbella had been working off of Volponi’s web account. Volponi was also asked by the police if the handle “Big Daddy” was familiar to him which was apparently Barbella’s web name.

Barbella was then awakened, brought downstairs by the police and promptly threw a blanket over his head and went into a fetal position.

Volponi said that one of the cops who was doing forensics on Barbella’s computers was apparently shaken by some of the images he saw on screen and was asked by another officer if he was okay.

“They cuffed Barbella. They must have gotten him on something big. They knew exactly where to go because of the Internet connection,” said Rob Spallone who was also familiar with the case.

Volponi said he couldn’t believe what happened this week, that he was stunned by events.

“I feel betrayed and helpless- this is fucked up,” adds Volponi. Volponi who spent the entire time the police were at his house in a state of shock was told by one of the arresting officers, not to feel sorry for Barbella.

“He’s sick,” the officer told Volponi.