MIAMI — A federal judge today ordered an Oct. 1 trial date for Bryan Deneumostier, the operator of defunct website StraightBoyz who allegedly taped entire sexual encounters without the consent of participants.
Deneumostier was accused of violating three counts of 18 U.S.C. § 2257 record-keeping violations related to the operation of the gay website, which was said to offer videos of straight men being conned into accepting sex acts.
During the sex acts, authorities said, victims were blindfolded or wearing blacked-out goggles. Victimized men thought they were going to a South Miami-Dade house for casual sex with a bored housewife, but many later found their trysts uploaded to the site.
Authorities said that Deneumostier pretended to be a woman offering anonymous sex and even reassured men that there would be no cameras involved, according to an indictment.
Deneumostier, also charged with two counts of illegal interception of oral communication, used the screen name “susanleon33326” during the scheme, said an indictment that stated he may have taped encounters with about 600 men.
Today, in an eight-minute proceeding before U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga in Miami, a continuance was granted to Monday, Oct. 1, and Deneumostier waived his right to a speedy trial after a request from his counsel, a public defender.
Deneumostier’s case marks only the second time an adult producer has been charged with 2257 violations.
Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis and his company faced the consequences after 2257 charges were levied against the brand.
As a result Francis pleaded guilty in 2006 to charges his company Mantra Films Inc. taped two 17-year-olds during an explicit shoot for a spring break video.
Francis was sentenced to community service and paid $500,000 in fines, and his company agreed to pay $1.6 million.
Earlier this month, the Free Speech Coalition, the national trade organization for the adult industries, secured a major legal victory in the battle over the 18 U.S.C. §§ 2257 and 2257A statutes.
In a final judgment rendered by U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson, large parts of the record-keeping regulations were declared unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds.
Some adult industry observers, however, expect the Justice Department to appeal the judgment. The FSC has even set up a "2257 Lawsuit Donation" webpage to help secure funds in the event of an appeal, as well as for past legal bills in its 13-year battle over the regs.
An earlier FSC victory against the 2257 regulations on Fourth Amendment grounds came from a federal appeals court ruling.
