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Curtis allegedly had encounter at bookstore

Bill Morlin and Nick Eaton
Staff writers
October 31, 2007

Cody Castagna met state Rep. Richard Curtis, a Republican from the Vancouver, Wash., area, at Hollywood Erotic Boutique on East Sprague Avenue at 12:45 a.m. Friday before the two went to Curtis’ room at the Davenport Tower, according to court documents. (Jed Conklin) Video: Suspect responds to allegation Documents: (PDF) • Search warrant affidavit • SPD incident report including statements from Curtis • Additional report including description of events • Additional report including statements from Castagna Video reports Watch video: Castagna responds

A state representative dressed as a woman and engaged in oral sex at a Spokane Valley adult bookstore before rendezvousing at a downtown Spokane hotel for another sexual encounter with a man now under investigation for extortion, police reports released Tuesday allege.

The extortion suspect, identified in public records as 26-year-old Cody Michael Castagna, of Medical Lake, told detectives he was offered $1,000 to have unprotected sex with state Rep. Richard Curtis, a Republican from La Center, near Vancouver, Wash.

Castagna, a part-time waiter and porn model, has been featured in explicit photos posted on some members-only gay Web sites. He declined interview requests from The Spokesman-Review on Tuesday. But later, at his attorney's office, Castagna told reporters that he never threatened the legislator.

Curtis "has completely changed what actually happened and turned it around in his favor," Castagna said. His attorney is David R. Partovi, of the Maxey Law Offices in Spokane.

The legislator propositioned him and they made an agreement, but Curtis did not pay him after the sex act, Castagna said.

On Monday, Curtis told the Columbian newspaper in Vancouver that he is not gay and did not engage in sex with the man while staying in a Spokane hotel last week. Curtis has declined interview requests from The Spokesman-Review.

When the 48-year-old lawmaker was initially interviewed by detectives, their reports say, he said he'd engaged in a sex act in the hotel room with a man he'd met that evening at Hollywood Erotic Boutique in Spokane Valley.

The two met shortly before 1 a.m. Friday at the adult bookstore where Castagna was watching porn videos, the police reports say.

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.

During questioning by detectives, Castagna said he saw a man later identified as Curtis in Hollywood Boutique on Friday "wearing long red women's stockings and black sequined lingerie." Castagna later told detectives he saw a man who appeared to be around 40 with a cane performing oral sex on Curtis, according to the police reports.

The legislator gave his phone number to Castagna before leaving the adult bookstore at 9611 E. Sprague Ave., the reports say.

Curtis then went to Northern Quest Casino in Airway Heights before getting a phone call about 3 a.m. from Castagna. The two agreed to meet at the Davenport Tower where the legislator, visiting Spokane on legislative business, had a room.

Outside the hotel early Friday, Castagna asked Curtis what he did for a living. According to the police reports, Curtis responded: "I work to help people out." He added: "If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

Once the two went to the legislator's hotel room, "Curtis gave the male $100" before the two engaged in sex acts, the police reports say.

Detectives seized pillowcases, bedsheets, a water bottle and a used condom from the room and surveillance video from the hotel's lobby, the documents say.

Interviewed Friday by detectives, the legislator said he promised to give Castagna $100 "to help him out but he was not paying him to have sex."

Before hiring Seattle attorney John Wolfe and declining to answer further questions from detectives, Curtis told them "he believed he had been slipped some type of drug because he does not have a clear recollection of the activities that evening."

Wolfe is a Seattle attorney who specializes in white-collar criminal defense and other criminal matters. A call to Wolfe on Tuesday was not immediately returned.

The Spokane Police Department has forwarded its report on the incident to the Spokane County prosecutor's office. Major Crimes Supervisor Larry Steinmetz will review it before a charging decision is made, the prosecutor's office said late Tuesday.

The reports say that after Curtis fell asleep in the hotel room, Castagna is alleged to have left the hotel room with the legislator's wallet. Later, he called Curtis, demanding the $1,000 Castagna claimed he was owed for the unprotected sex act, the reports say.

"Curtis woke up alone a little before 7 a.m. and received a phone call from the male," the reports say. "The male told Curtis he had (his) wallet and knew he was a state legislator and married."

"The male claimed to have taken explicit photos of Curtis" while the legislator was asleep, Curtis told detectives. Castagna, however, told police that he didn't have a camera or take pictures of Curtis.

Curtis put $200 in an envelope and left it in the hotel lobby. Police reports say it was picked up by a man who may be a friend or associate of Castagna's.

Later, Castagna called the legislator back, demanding the additional $800, the records say. That phone call, according to police reports, was monitored by Spokane detectives who had opened an investigation.

The caller instructed Curtis to put the additional $800 in an envelope and put it in a flower pot on the Washington Street Bridge that passes through Riverfront Park.

Undercover police staked out that area during the noon hour Friday and apprehended a young man who subsequently admitted he went to pick up the $800 in the flower pot after getting a call from Castagna.

Curtis told the Vancouver newspaper he would release a public statement Tuesday, but that apparently didn't occur.

Instead of initially calling Spokane police, the lawmaker called a friend with the Washington State Patrol in the Vancouver area, the detectives' reports say.

"Curtis said he wanted the Washington State Patrol to investigate the incident because the local (Spokane) police would talk and it would get out to the press," they say.

The WSP official Curtis called subsequently referred the matter to the WSP office in Spokane, where Sgt. Ken Wade called Spokane Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick on Friday morning, the reports say.

At one point in an interview with detectives, the legislator said he wished he had "just paid the additional money to the suspect because he didn't wish the case to be prosecuted," according to reports.

Partovi, Castagna's lawyer, indicated his client could be charged with prostitution, a misdemeanor. A felony extortion charge would be excessive, he said.

"This is a real low-level situation that's been blown way out of proportion because a state lawmaker is involved and has chosen to make some false statements about my client," Partovi said.

In 2001 Castagna pleaded guilty to forgery, and a King County Superior Court judge sentenced him to two months in jail and one year of community custody. Court records show that as a juvenile, Castagna faced numerous assault, theft and malicious mischief charges in Spokane County. Another forgery conviction got him eight to 12 weeks in juvenile custody.

Staff reporters Amy Cannata and Karen Dorn Steele contributed to this report.

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