10/31/2007
Washington State GOP Rep. Curtis Exposed by Sordid Police Report
Problems deepened yesterday for Washington State GOP Rep. Richard Curtis, the target of an alleged extortion plot by a male prostitute in Spokane.
On Monday afternoon, Curtis told the press, "I committed no crime. I did not solicit sex. I was trying to help somebody out. I am not gay. I have not had sex with a guy. It's been a rough week. Look, the rest of this will all come out. I can't say anything more until I have talked to my attorney. I have never been in this situation before."
Curtis reportedly met 26-year-old Cody Castagna, a waiter from Spokane at an adult video store, where two gay porn films were purchased, and traveled to the Davenport Towers Hotel where the two had sex, according to details in a police search warrant.
According to The Columbian, "The police report contains an account of how Curtis allegedly donned women’s clothing, red stockings and a black sequined lingerie top before engaging in a sex act at the store. He continued to wear them throughout the night under his clothing." Those details do not appear to be in the search warrant, however.
Once the two men finished having sex, Curtis told police he fell asleep. Castagna, who has spent two months in jail as an adult on a forgery charge, allegedly took Curtis' wallet from the room at that point and later demanded $200 for it, threatening to tell Curtis' wife that he was gay. Curtis brought $200 to the hotel desk in an envelope for Castagna. Curtis didn't receive the wallet at that time, but got a phone call later demanding another $800. According to the police report, Spokane officer Madsen was present when he received the call, and listened in.
Castagna claims that Curtis agreed to pay him $1000 for sex (a claim Curtis denies) and that because Curtis only had $200 at the time, Castagna took Curtis' wallet as collateral for the balance.
Said Castagna at a press conference Tuesday: "I feel that, honestly, I’m being wrongly accused and that (Curtis) is using his power to take it off of him and put it on me. He has completely changed what actually happened and turned it around for his favor."
(VIDEO below, after the jump)
Castagna also told KXLY4 Executive Producer Melissa Luck in an email exchange: "Well I will say this Richard offered me money to engage in sexual acts I wasn’t into. [M]y stupid ass agreed and since he was tired he gave me his wallet as collateral until he woke up and could get me the money and I got the feeing he was screwing me and he was not only that he turned the whole thing around in his favor to save his butt and is screwing up my [w]hole life."
Castagna's lawyer added: "He didn’t make any threats against this guy (Curtis). This is an extremely a low-level situation that’s being blown out of proportion by somebody who is trying to save themselves."
Curtis contacted Spokane police and then began to worry that details of the incident would expose him.
Spokane Police Detective Tim Madsen wrote in the report: "Curtis told me he was just trying to put the cap back on the tube. “I told Curtis that the suspect may victimize other people in the future, and Curtis acknowledged that part of his job was to protect people in the state of Washington. … Curtis said he wished he would have just paid the additional money to the suspect because he didn’t wish the case to be prosecuted. If the incident became public, it could cost him his marriage and career."
Curtis then apparently called a fellow Republican, Sgt. Roy Rhine of the Washington State Patrol, a move which backfired, as the WSP, according to The Columbian, referred the case back to the local police.
Police also have physical evidence: "As part of their investigation, Spokane police have seized video recordings from the hotel and the sex shop, computerized records of when Curtis’ hotel room door was opened and closed, and hotel records purportedly showing the rental of gay porn movies by someone in Curtis’ room."
No charges have been filed yet in the case.
Of course this is the real kicker to the story. The Spokesman Review reported yesterday: "Elected to the state House of Representatives in 2004, Curtis has voted like a fiscal and social conservative. This spring, he voted against domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian couples. Last year, he opposed a gay rights bill that banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation."
Search Warrant [pdf]
Police report sheds new light on Curtis encounter [the columbian]
Castagna claims he didn't blackmail state legislator [kxly spokane]
Police documents: SW Wash. GOP lawmaker had sex with man [seattle post intelligencer]
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Washington State GOP Rep. in Alleged Male Hustler Extortion Plot [tr]
Posted 8:04 AM EST by Andy Towle in Crime, News, Republican Party, Richard Curtis, Washington | Permalink
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There a porn video featuring Cody Castagna floating around the net. In it, he's gay for pay.
Posted by: protogenes | Oct 31, 2007 12:04:05 PM
DON'T FEED THE HOOKERS!
Posted by: FizziekruntNT | Oct 31, 2007 1:18:56 PM
AIDS KILLS FAGS DEAD! HAVE FUN, QUEERS!
Posted by: AIDSkillsFagsDead! | Oct 31, 2007 1:33:32 PM
"AIDS kills fags dead!"
What does it do to closeted Republicans, kill them alive?
You're one of them escort buysexuals, aintcha', boy? You just read Fizziekruntnt's warning, and now you're mad.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly | Oct 31, 2007 1:42:05 PM
to AIDSKILLS:
eat sh*t and die, you demented mofo.
Posted by: nic | Oct 31, 2007 1:53:50 PM
Nita it IS possible to create intentional "set ups" of people being gay while in long term relationships and it's called gay marriage/civil unions. When Mayor Gavin Newsom,Openly gay Assemblyman Mark Leno and the city of San Francisco as well as the many other cities/states in the USA challenge the hetero norm by validating gay love then only bigots lose. When 4,000+ gay couples flocked to San Francisco to publicly declare their love,commitment and yes believe it or not MONOGAMY (including Rosie O) the relgious freaks came out of the woodwork screaming their hate filled,time worn rants and people wonder why GLBT folks are skeptical about religion and religious zealots and all their judgement and doublespeak?
Posted by: SFshawn | Oct 31, 2007 2:52:43 PM
First, Derrick, ROTFLMAO and in need of clean underwear for your suggestion of "ENDA" as a new drag name!!!! Bravo! And totally agree with you that it would be great if someone collected all these stories together [few are likely to rise on their own to the national scandal that Foley and Craig have] and publicized them in a way that would help destroy Repugs' self-righteous "Family Values" [read "gays want to fricassee our kids"] credibility.
Still think it would be great for someone with computer skills I wish I had to create a site with one of those automatically updating calendar/clocks a la the Backwards Bush clock or how much money Bill Gates made today, though in this case the theme would be "Days/Hours/Minutes/Seconds Since The Last Closeted Repug Was Busted."
http://www.backwardsbush.com/
Posted by: Leland Frances | Oct 31, 2007 3:13:19 PM
Wow what a hot story.. I wonder if he got to cum in the guys ass or did he pull out and jack off and cum on the guys back. Did they exchange blowjobs before hand? There is so much the press is not telling us. There is one thing for sure lots of horny guys in the would like. I think i going to go beat off now.
Jim
The blad fag
Posted by: jim turner | Oct 31, 2007 5:19:26 PM
the only issue here, as always, is that we have another person in a position of power voting down gay rights while having a gay old time themselves. all the salacious details of their encounter are nobody's business and no different than what the str8 politicians are up to and always have been.. why do you think they want the jobs in the first place? the fringe benefits. all that booze and those hookers don't drink and fuck themselves ya know.. somebody's got to step up.
Posted by: el polacko | Oct 31, 2007 6:24:11 PM
The long list of sex scandals by closeted gays and breeders, the totalitarian rights threat to desert them, and the emergence of a new generation of youth both opposed to homobigotry and ripe for radicalization are pounding the last few nails in the Republican coffin. They’re DOA for 2008.
Hillary Clinton’s chokehold on the nomination means she’ll be the next president unless she or the Democrats duplicate the phenomenally stupid blunders that were a trademark of their 2000 and 2004 campaigns.
For closeted queers in the homobigot Republican Party, life is a nightmare concoction of fear and frustration largely of their own making. Stephanie Coontz, leftist scholar noted for her analysis of changes in family structures and advocate of samesex marriage said “For people who take an Old Testament approach homosexuality is so dissonant from their notion of morality that you have to lie to yourself 98 percent of the time." Robert-Jay Green, executive director of the San Francisco Rockway Institute which exposes “anti-gay prejudice” agrees, adding “They risk losing their careers, their reputations, their family relationships, and the cost is so high for them to accept their underlying same-sex attractions that many of them still remain closeted,” he said. “And being closeted is like being in prison.”
It’s been that way forever in US politics or at least sine the time of Buchanan, ‘bachelor’ president from 1856 to 1860. He was directly followed by Abe Lincoln, who loathed marriage to women and had male bedmates most of the time.
US history is replete with examples of the destructive nature of internalized homophobia, from J. Edgar “Mary” Hoover who shoehorned himself out of his panties and frock, waddled down to the FBI office issued arrest orders for gays and leftists to Roy Cohn, Joe McCarthy’s sidekick, who did much the same.
Democrats as well as Republicans have been ‘victims’ of their own fear and internalized homophobia, and outed, often after trying to pick up minors, hustlers and cops. They include: Walter Jenkins, an LBJ aide in 1964; NY Democrat congressman Fred Richmond in 1978; Maryland Republican Robert Bauman outed in 1980; Mississippi Republican Jon Hinson outed in 1981; Democrat Rep. Gerry Studds of Massachusetts outed in 1983; in 1989 GOP lobbyist Craig Spence took male prostitutes on a late-night tour of the Bush1 White House and committed suicide and Democrat Barney Frank of Massachusetts was outed; 2003 Brent Parker of Utah’s House of Representatives outed and resigned; 2004 New Jersey governor Democrat James McGreevey outed and resigns; 2004 Republican congressman Ed Schrock of Virginia outed and quits race: 2005 Republican shill Jeff Gannon outed: 2005 Spokane, Wash., Republican mayor Jim West outed and recalled. Just in the last year we’ve seen the collapse of closet cases scandals like Ted Haggard, Larry Craig, that Republican blimp in Florida whose name escapes me and others.
It’s going to be a bumpy ride for Republicans and their closet cases.
Posted by: Bill Perdue, RainbowRED | Oct 31, 2007 7:01:42 PM
Why is this even news? By now it should be clear to everyone that deep inside of every Republican resides a homosexual who is just screaming to get out. It is no secret that Republicans have inner demons deep within their jingoistic conservative closets that are far worse then any of the things they try to acuse Democrats of. Basically...consider all the things that the Republican Party claims to be for and you will discover that the party is only good a producing politicians who are the total opposite of their ideology. One need not look any further then their daddy little hitler bush to realize that the Republican Party is not a party that is of, for or by the people.
Posted by: Gene | Nov 1, 2007 4:09:14 PM
The higher they are the lower they fall. This guy is gay and got married because of society presures. Once you are gay, you are gay. Unfortunately, he tried to live a double life and it exploted in his face.
Posted by: Oscar | Nov 1, 2007 4:24:59 PM