from www.miamiherald.com – Raul “The Monster” Armenteros, the Miami porn star and Santeria follower accused of animal abuse, will be allowed return to work, even though he’s on house arrest, a judge ruled this week.

And Armenteros, 46, will also be allowed to go to church on Sundays.

Miami police in July arrested Armenteros and another man after officers found his eight roosters, four guinea hens, four pigeons, four goats and one duck in a sweltering van in Flagami. The men, followers of the Afro-Cuban Santeria religion, told police the animals were for an “offering.”

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Leon Firtel originally released Armenteros, who is charged with 22 counts of felony animal abuse, to house arrest.

But the release program did not allow him to leave his home for work.

“Preventing Mr. Armenteros from working as an adult film star doesn’t bear any reasonable relationship to the purpose of bail or pretrial release,” defense lawyer Rick Hermida said.

“Mr. Armenteros is a gifted actor. He has a right to work under the Florida Constitution — just like anyone else.”

Armenteros stars in many films produced by the Miami-based Internet giant Bang Bros.com Productions. His arrest drew widespread headlines.

In court Wednesday, Firtel at first seemed hesitant. To rousing laughter from courtroom spectators, Hermida tried explaining that Armenteros is essentially on-call, making his work hours hard to nail down.

“There is nothing funny about this. This is a legitimate job he is working. He has the right to work,” Hermida told the judge.

He added: “What if he was an AC repair guy who was on call? You don’t know when that call is going to come.”

Firtel relented, allowing Armenteros to work weekday mornings and attend religious services on Sunday.