Cody is known in some circles as "Stallion". He is a porn actor and male prostitute with a criminal record. Most cases were in juvenile court and involved charges of assault, theft, burglary and malicious mischief. In adult court, court records showed that Cody pleaded guilty in 2001 to a forgery charge and was sentenced to two months in jail and 12 months in community custody.
A police report said that a La Center politician, Rep. Richard Curtis, Republican, engaged in consensual sex with a man who then threatened to expose the Republican's gay lifestyle if he was not paid.
Curtis met Cody at the Hollywood Erotic Boutique on Friday about 12:45 a.m., and they went back to Curtis' hotel room about 3:30 a.m. and had sex. Curtis then fell asleep, and Cody left the hotel with Curtis' wallet. Later, Cody called Curtis and offered to return the wallet in exchange for $1,000. Cody also threatened to publicly expose Curtis' lifestyle to Curtis' wife.
Curtis agreed to give the man $200 and left it at the front desk. Later, Cody called back and demanded $800 more. A police detective listened in on the phone call.
Cody told detectives Curtis had agreed to pay him $1,000 for sex and that Curtis gave him his wallet as collateral for money owed. Cody admitted threatening to tell Curtis' wife about the sex if he was not paid in full.
Curtis denied being gay. He told investigators he gave Castagna $100 for "gas money" but insisted that he never agreed to give the man any payment for sex and that he did not have sex with another man. He is a former fire captain, and is married. To a woman.
Curtis has a history of voting against gay rights issues in the State House. In April of this year he voted against Washington's domestic partnership law for same-sex couples. A year before that the lawmaker voted against a gay civil rights bill that would have banned discrimination against gays and lesbians in jobs, housing and insurance. He's perhaps best known for a proposal that would have banned anti-gay rights protesters at the funerals of U.S. servicemen and servicewomen.
Then, June 16th 2008, the charges against Cody Castagna dropped.
It came out that Rep. Curtis visited a porn video store. Some of these adult video stores have booths in the back that are frequented by men seeking anonymous sex. According to a Spokane TV station: "During his visit to the video store Curtis was observed wearing women's lingerie while receiving oral sex from an unidentified man in one of the movie viewing booths inside the store." The Spokesman Review reported the rent boy told detectives that he saw a man later identified as Curtis in the video store "wearing long red women's stockings and black sequined lingerie."
The newspaper added: "An employee at the store told detectives Curtis has been in the business three times in the last month and is called 'the cross-dresser' by employees." He continued to wear these items throughout the night under his clothing.
Then, according to police reports, Curtis went to Northern Quest Casino to gamble. Arguably, though, all three stops of the evening were high-stakes gambles. Curtis and the rent boy had made arrangements to meet later that night. Their intimate interlude began at 3:30 a.m. with a meeting in Curtis' hotel room
The two stars in this scandal disagree about many of the details of what happened in the room, especially when it comes to matters of payment. Cody alleges that Curtis demanded unprotected anal sex, and that Curtis agreed to pay $1000.
Curtis admitted paying the younger man $100, but said it was not payment for their consensual sex, but rather an attempt "to help him out, with gas money." Curtis at different times has disagreed with his own story of what happened, and at one point claimed a "foggy memory." Curtis has now lawyered up, and has stopped talking to the press.
Republican leaders in Washington State moved rapidly to contain the scandal. Rep. Curtis submitted a resignation letter to Washington's governor effective immediately (blaming "events that have recently come to light" as having "hurt a lot of people"). Curtis' name was removed from the statehouse GOP web site within hours of his announced resignation. A Republican will be appointed to replace him in the legislature.
There has been no comment from Rep. Curtis' wife about the reports that her husband engaged in sex with a stranger twice in one evening, including, allegedly, anal sex without a condom (the riskiest way to sexually transmit HIV).
In a brief interview on Friday, Curtis took a page out of the White House Plame-CIA Leak Scandal playbook and declined to speak fully until all possible legal matters run their course. Curtis told the paper, "he realizes he needs to explain how he could vote against gay marriage and domestic partnerships and have a secret second life, but he cannot discuss such matters until all legal issues have been resolved."
The story has another wrinkle. Rep. Curtis was a non-voting member of the Washington State Gambling Commission; he was removed the same day he resigned his seat in the statehouse. Cody Castagna "the Stallion" is linked to a "madam" at Northern Quest Casino. Cody appears in archived casino surveillance video talking with a woman who is now serving a two-year prison term. She was operating an escort business and promoting prostitution at the casino. The woman pleaded guilty this past summer to money laundering, three counts of second-degree promoting prostitution and possession with intent to distribute cocaine. Most cases were in juvenile court and involved charges of assault, theft, burglary and malicious mischief. In adult court, court records showed that Castagna pleaded guilty in 2001 to a forgery charge and was sentenced to two months in jail and 12 months in community custody. Cody was not charged with anything in that case.
