from www.adultcybermart.com - Proving that a bird in the hand is not always worth two in a bush, Michael Storm, alias Dirty D, was among three people arrested in March 2009.
Storm, a director, was charged with exposure, lewd and lascivious behavior at the Playhouse Adult Theater in Tampa Florida's Drew Park. The police had been on a six month stake out of Drew Park which had a reputation for lewd behavior and conduct.
An Internet entrepreneur, Storm claimed that he was there checking out the theater for a number of his websites which address the subject of public nudity. Storm also claimed that police were overdramatizing the situation because he has something of a reputation as a "pervert pornographer".
"If anybody's surprised that Dirty D masturbates, they need to check themselves," said Storm who, along with his companions, was released after posting $750 bail.
Ordinarily, one might give Storm the benefit of the doubt, but almost a year later to the day, Storm was involved in a firestorm of a news story involving an underaged performer named Kelsie Cummings. It was Cummings who first blew the whistle on Storm when she wrote me in December of 2008.
According to Cummings' story she was 17 at the time when she met an agent named Eric. Eric took her to a hotel for an audition claiming she had to do one if she wanted to make "tons of money". They had sex. Though Cummings informed him she was underage she was told it was okay and to bring a friends' ID for another shoot Eric was lining up for her.
Cummings discovered the location to be Storm's house where there were five random guys off the street waiting there. Cummings claims she was told by Storm to fill out a model release with the information on the fake ID in her possession which led her to believe he knew she was underage.
Cummings did so, noting that she looks nothing like the girl in the photo ID. Cummings shot a solo scene, then was taken to an adult video store to do another one. Cummings claims because none of the performers were tested she wanted to leave.
Storm assured her that it was normal to be nervous. Nevertheless she refused, her husband came for her and Cummings didn't get paid the amount she was supposed to receive which was $500. Soon afterwards, Cummings said she got an email from [email protected]
Basically in an attempt to blackmail her, Cummings was told if she didn't shoot for them, she'd be turned into the cops for working underage.
About the same time Cummings emailed me, a story appeared on www.tampabay.com reporting that the police arrested Shawn Chastain and Ryan Jay Holtz co-horts of Storm's. Each were charged with two counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child. They were released on $20,000 bail, but Storm was out of the country at the Barcelona Summit at the time of their arrests.
According to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement warrant, Chastain and Holtz were present at the house in Tampa when Cummings, was filmed - one video at Michael Storm's house, and the other at Fantasy Land Adult Video, an adult theatre. The possession of the second video would refute what Cummings originally said about her walking out on the shoot.
According to the warrant, Chastain and Storm were present when Holtz asked Cummings if she had her fake identification. Storm then allegedly gave Cummings a release form to sign and said he knew she was only 17.
Storm later claimed that Cummings used fake IDs and performed in numerous porn shoots with various adult producers before and after his shoot.
According to Storm, Cummings went under a variety of aliases: Toni Cowell, Mandi Cowell, Destiney Poceous, Destinay Poceous and Erica Stone besides Kelsey Cummings.
According to other reports, Cummings was shooting as early as December, 2007. Storm also claimed that Cummings presented him a valid Florida driver's license at the time of the shoot in question, and that Cummings also operates a blog that details her interest in working in porn and is married to a performer who has shot gay porn.
"A search for 'Kelsey Cummings' will show that she has shot for several producers. This vindictive attack has only been made against me and my company," Storm went on to say.
Overall, Storm called Cummings' story "false and defamatory" and that someone with an agenda was out to get him.
The police were apparently tipped to the case when they received a mailed letter that included copies of Cummings in the act of fellatio on the site GloryHolesGirlz.com, a site operated by Storm.
When he returned to the country early in 2010, Storm filed a not guilty plea. His attorney Bjorn Brunvand made a request for discovery and further asked that the judge reduce Storm's $200,000 bond to $40,000 so that Storm could use the difference to pay his legal expenses.
The request was denied because it was argued that Storm had the financial means to support his case based on $60,000 in cash which was found in his home during the investigation by Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement officials, plus the fact that Storm's business had been valued at $1 million.
Storm was subsequently arrested on March 17, 2010 and charged with two counts of the promotion of a sexual performance of a child and two counts of the use of a child in a sexual performance. An arraignment had been scheduled for Apr. 5, 2010.
On February 11, 2011 prosecutors dropped charges against Chastain, Holtz and Storm because Cummings, now 20, was no longer interested in cooperating. When prosecutors dropped the charges, Cummings was still working in the porn industry.
Because Cummings was the one to break the story, a case can be made that she was scared off or threatened from going further with it.
Who knows if that's the case, but where there are greedy imbeciles looking to make a fast buck in porn, you'll inevitably find stories like Cummings'.
Girls Gone Wild's Joe Francis has certainly seen the inside of many a courtroom stemming from underage allegations, and just recently, Francis, serving as his own attorney, won a case in Federal Court in Panama City, Florida.
A jury comprised entirely of women found him not guilty. After three years of litigation, and, rather then settle a civil lawsuit brought against him by four women who claimed they were filmed underage, Francis opted for the jury trial.
The plaintiffs sued Francis and three corporate entities he controls for "filming them exposing their breasts and and/or engaging in sexually explicit conduct" for videos in the popular "Girls Gone Wild" series.
Now that the threat of a 2257 enforcement appears less likely, there'll undoubtedly be more risks and more chances taken to cast young faces in a dog-eat-dog market. Francis, who represents the softcore market, may have gotten off lucky in a case in which he stood to lose millions.
Amazingly, the adult industry paid little attention when the gay industry version of the Traci Lords-Alexandra Quinn stories was playing right under its nose.
Brent Corrigan did movies at the age of 17 for Brian Kocis, the late Cobra Video owner. It could be argued that Kocis' death - a fiery demise at the hands of gay performers Harlow Cuadra and Joseph Kerekes, was directly related to the Corrigan flap.
On KSEX one night Corrigan related a story about how Kocis would suck his cock knowing he was underage and that it was common knowledge in Corrigan's circle that he was doing movies underage.
Corrigan, who was born in Lewiston, Idaho, grew up in the suburbs of Seattle. He had a decent upbringing but grew up in a dysfunctional family and his parents divorced when he was in third grade.
Corrigan never met his biological father, but feels that his stepfather did a decent job raising him considering some of the circumstances.
Corrigan moved to SoCal when he was 16, explaining that his mother lived in San Diego at the time. Corrigan wanted to direct films and was supporting himself through his senior year in high school by appearing in porn films for Cobra Video after his boyfriend Jake introduced him to Kocis.
"The way it worked I was assured over and over by not only Jake but a few people around him that this is a thing that happens in the industry," said Corrigan in his interview with Jason Sechrest.
If what Corrigan says is standard practice in gay video, you wonder how many more performers like himself have worked underage in mainstream and haven't been caught.
What's sadly amusing about the Corrigan story is that at least four of his underage movies "Bareboned Twinks" , "Casting Couch 4" , "Every Pool Boy's Dream" and "School Boy Crush" got 4- A ratings from AVN.
Then we have the case Of Little Lupe Fuentes, the Colombian spitfire, Wicked contract girl and wife of Evan Seinfeld who's come under the eye of international authorities for her alleged part in a kiddie porn ring.
What part Fuentes, who's been wanted by Interpol, played isn't exactly clear as yet. Her ex-husband Pablo Lapiedra, a Spanish director, has been accused of exploiting Colombian children in porn movies. If convicted Lapiedra stands to serve between eight to 12 years in prison.
Spanish police arrested Lapiedra on March 17 this year on charges of prostituting and recording Colombian children in pornographic films. One of the alleged victims reported working long hours and being assured that the films, some of which Fuentes allegedly appeared in, would not be distributed in Colombia.
The investigation began in late 2008 after the Federal Bureau of Technical Investigation (BIT) of the Spanish police, in collaboration with Colombia's National Police and Interpol, detected a teenage prostitute network operating in Latin American countries.
The tip-off came from the head of a Medellin institute who was informed by some students that a fellow student was starring in a pornography film. In the film, a 16 year old girl was molested by two men as well as the cameraman.
The film was placed on an internet site where it could be downloaded for up to $100. Early investigations showed the internet site was registered under Fuentes' married name, Zuleydy Piedrahita.
Interpol then issued an international arrest warrant against Lapiedra and Fuentes.
On the same subject, you'd think that Reality Kings would know to quit when they were ahead.
Earlier this year the company took heat when it was discovered that porn was shot at Monument Island - a man-made island near Miami Beach that features a 110-foot obelisk honoring Florida pioneer Henry Flagler.
The fact that the memorial was recently restored with $1 million in taxpayer money may have had something to do with the story getting as much attention that it did. That, plus the fact that Reality Kings, a company which broadcasts that it shoots porn in public was behind the apparent blasphemy, only added to it.
Filmed for www.CaptainStabbin.com, a site that specializes in anal sex filmed on boats, the filmmakers docked their boat on the island, while Brooklyn Lee a well endowed redhead got plowed in the butt by male actor JMac while another woman occasionally lent a helping hand in a 50 minute video.
In their defense Reality Kings' lawyer, Larry Walters, said the company tried to follow the laws, and advanced the theory that public nudity laws only apply if someone is there to actually see the nudity.
Reality Kings like Brazzers, and Bang Bros shoot all over Dade County, relying almost exclusively on guerrilla-style content that is produced fast and efficiently.
But the real issue developed when the video was broadcast on the internet days after city officials discussed ways to end the illegal drinking and parties that have become common on Monument Island.
Not to be outdone by themselves, Reality Kings raised a stink again this week when it was discovered that a 15 year old named Charrida Smalley, an apparent runaway, made a sex video for them under the performing name Bieyanka Moore.
Moore is claiming her innocence saying that she was actually 19 and that a website www.nevadachildseekers.org for a missing child center had mixed her up with another girl, Tyler Chanel Evans.
The ID Moore/Smalley used belonged to Evans who's a resident of Las Vegas where she works as a stripper & club promoter. Evans says Moore/Smalley had stolen an invalid ID of hers and doesn't understand how she was allowed to use it.
All the information Moore/Smalley had on her model release is the personal information belonging to Evans. Evans says Moore/Smalley looks nothing like her, is taller and has larger breasts.
As the story's being reported, Tyler Evans had first met Moore/Smalley after finding her homeless on the streets in Las Vegas. Evans is saying she didn't know Moore/Smalley was 15 and a runaway at the time.
Case manager Bob Abrams of the Nevada center states that no mistake was made, and that the information & picture given to them was from Charrida Smalley's family.
Smalley's mother, Sherrita, has filed suit against Reality Kings claiming that her underage daughter and Bieyanka Moore are one and the same - constituting "sexual battery, statutory rape, and child pornography."
Smalley's Miami-based attorney, Mark A. Glassman, says Bieyanka's case is being investigated by the FBI:
"This is a lot more complex than she showed up and got in a movie," Glassman says. "A 15-year-old did not orchestrate this alone."
For their part, Reality Kings claims that Moore/Smalley provided producers with a valid Nevada learner's permit claiming to be 19-year-old Tyler Chanel Evans, and a corresponding social security printout., facts which contradict Tyler Evans' story.
A few hours after uploading Bieyanka's film debut, Reality Kings' attorney, Stuart I. Grossman, claimed that the company received an anonymous tip claiming she was underage:
"They took down the video immediately and called the FBI," Grossman said.
"The bottom line is RK did everything it could to verify the actress's age."
Today on the Internet, it's being argued that Reality Kings, as a distributor, shouldn't be held accountable in this latest porno mishap.
You might want to tell that to Ruby Gottesman, www.adultcybermart.com/PH101TraciLords.html a distributor of Traci Lords movies who was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $100,000.
Except one difference in Ruby's case. He got caught red-handed.
