02/03/2015
'Ex-Gay' Puerto Rico Priest Defends Past As Gay Adult Film Star
Jose Santiago (above right), a priest at the House of Prayer Monte Santo in Puerto Rico, has refused to resign after details of his former career as a gay adult film star emerged, reports Pink News.
Under the stage name Gustavo Arrango, Santiago starred in the 2010 adult flick Pride Part 2 and was nominated for best group sex scene.
Santiago has resisted calls for his resignation because he is no longer gay and is now happily married to a lucky, lucky woman.
“In those days I was gay and participated in homosexual activities, but God touched me, God transformed me, God gave me a woman who loves me and she loves my past.“I haven’t seen any of these films in years. I don’t receive any money for them and it’s part of a life that is over.“We have all done things we regret. That part of my life was before I knew God.”
Readers of Latin Times are convinced that the priest's best course of action is to return to a career in adult film.
Back in December, we reported that a new book by former seminarian Dr John Weafer revealed that there is a strong gay scene among priests in the Irish Catholic Church.
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A priest in Puerto Rico is refusing to resign – after he was exposed as a former gay porn star.
San Juan Pastor Jose Santiago faced an outcry after explicit videos spread online of him engaging in camsex with another man.
According to the Mirror, the preacher has defended himself from calls to resign, saying that he is no longer a homosexual – and is married to a woman.
He said: “In those days I was gay and participated in homosexual activities, but God touched me, God transformed me, God gave me a woman who loves me and she loves my past.
“I haven’t seen any of these films in years. I don’t receive any money for them and it’s part of a life that is over.
“We have all done things we regret. That part of my life was before I knew God.”
One priest, ‘Fr C’ – admitted to being in a long-term gay relationship, while another, known as ‘Fr L’, admitted to hooking up with a fellow priest after being ordained.
A priest in Puerto Rico is refusing to resign – after he was exposed as a former gay porn star. San Juan Pastor Jose Santiago faced
an outcry after explicit videos spread online of him engaging in camsex with another man.
an outcry after explicit videos spread online of him engaging in camsex with another man.
Pastor-santiago2-468x670. Jose Santiago (above right), a priest at the House of Prayer Monte Santo in Puerto Rico, has refused to resign after details of his former career as a gay adult film star emerged, reports Pink News.
Regional news archives from Caribbean News Now!: The source for the latest news throughout the Caribbean.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Puerto Rico's health secretary has declared a flu epidemic in the U.S. territory that has temporarily shut down at least one school. Ana Rius said Thursday that more than 3,000 cases have been ...
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Javier Villa has worked at his family's used car dealership in San Juan, Puerto Rico, ever since he finished high school. Villa, 35, always assumed the insurance plan he had through work would take care of him and his family.
Also, for the convenience of our readers and the online community generally, we have reproduced the complete Caribbean Net News archives from 2004 to 2010 here . The Caribbean is especially vulnerable to rising sea levels brought about by global warming.
Special Agent in Charge Carlos Cases of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's San Juan Division announced that the FBI has pressed charges against Jose Villafane-Cotto. On February 6, 2015, the FBI charged Jose Villafane-Cotto with mailing a threatening communication and threatening a federal official.
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Court Rejection of Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Heightens Uncertainty
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Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla and his administration's policies have been labeled as a "failure" by a non-partisan advocacy organization.
WASHINGTON—On Jan. 28, 2015, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned a six-count indictment charging nine individuals for the murder of Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati-Casanas, a correctional officer of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez Vélez for the District of Puerto Rico announced.
The indictment charges that, on or about Feb. 26, 2013, in the District of Puerto Rico, Oscar Martínez-Hernández aka “Cali,” Ángel D. Ramos-Cruz aka “Api,” Miguel Díaz-Rivera aka “Bolo,” Juan Quiñones-Meléndez aka “El Manco,” Orlando Mojica-Rodríguez aka “Yogui,” Jayson Rodríguez-González aka “Gonzo,” Carlos Rosado-Rosado aka “Cano,” Alexander Rosario de León aka “Coquí,” and Jancarlos Velázquez-Vázquez aka “Jan,” the defendants herein, together with other persons known and unknown to the grand jury, aiding and abetting each other, did with premeditation and malice aforethought unlawfully kill Lieutenant Albarati-Casanas, an officer and employee of the United States, while he was engaged in and on account of the performance of his official duties.
Counts one and two are charges related to the murder of Lieutenant Albarati-Casanas. Counts three and four are charges related to the murder for hire of Lieutenant Albarati-Casanas. Finally, counts five and six are charges related to the firearms used in the commission of the violent felonies, murder and murder for hire.
Count two of the indictment sets forth the participation of the nine defendants in the conspiracy to commit murder. The purpose and object of the conspiracy was that the defendants would carry out the murder of Lieutenant Albarati-Casanas, thereby eliminating him as a correctional officer at the Metropolitan Detention Center and as a means of ensuring that the officer would no longer exercise his substantial investigative authority against the defendants and be unable to conduct seizures of contraband, including cellular phones, which were forbidden at the detention facility.
According to the indictment, defendants Martínez-Hernández, Ramos-Cruz and Díaz-Rivera solicited another person(s) and financed the plan to murder Lieutenant Albarati-Casanas. Defendants Quiñones-Meléndez and Mojica-Rodríguez provided a vehicle, four Glock .40 fully automatic pistols and a cellular phone to defendants Rodríguez-González, Rosado-Rosado and Rosario de León to murder Lieutenant Albarati-Casanas. Defendant Velázquez-Vázquez served as driver to Mojica-Rodríguez and participated in the plan to murder the victim.
“Throughout his law enforcement career, Lieutenant Albarati’s service was both selfless and courageous,” said U.S. Attorney Rodríguez-Vélez. “With this action, we continue our work to hold accountable those who carried out this reprehensible and senseless act. And in all that we do, the Department of Justice will continue to honor Lieutenant Albarati’s sacrifice, to safeguard the community he served, and to protect the values and principles he defended all his life.”
“In February 2013, Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati’s life was spontaneously and brutally robbed from him, his family and friends, his partners, and the good people across the Federal Bureau of Prisons,” said Special Agent in Charge Carlos Cases of the FBI. “It is my sincerest hope that, while it took some time, the tireless and selfless effort of the men and women who worked to solve this case brings justice and closure to Albarati’s family. The FBI has always been and will continue to be relentless in the pursuit of justice.”
The murder of government employees and officials is a crime punishable by death or imprisonment for any terms of years or for life. Murder for hire is a crime punishable by death or imprisonment for any terms of years or for life. Possession of a firearm in furtherance of an attempted crime of violence is a crime punishable by a minimum penalty of 10 years and a maximum penalty of death or imprisonment for any term of years or for life.
Criminal indictments are only charges and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty.
The case was investigated by the FBI with the collaboration of the Puerto Rico Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Díaz-Rex for the District of Puerto Rico and Trial Attorney Julie Mosley from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Capital Crimes Unit.
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On Tuesday, the FBI raided the IT offices of Doral Bank in Puerto Rico, citing an ongoing investigation. The officials didn’t reveal much more, but given Doral’s checkered past, which includes fraud and the fatal shooting of one of its executives, there are many possibilities.
According to Fox News Latino, U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez said that they conducted the raid to get information from documents and computers and indicated that it may have been connected to the shooting death of New Jersey banker Maurice Spagnoletti.
The New York Times reports that Doral Bank hired Spagnoletti to come to Puerto Rico as an executive vice president for mortgage and banking operations in 2010. After about one year on the job, Spagnoletti was gunned down in his car while on a freeway heading toward Puerto Rico’s capital of San Juan.
The police found nine shell cases in the banker’s lexus, which had rolled onto a grassy field.
Although Puerto Rico suffers from a cronically high murder rate, Spagnoletti’s widow Marisa suspects the Doral financial bank conspired to kill her husband for planning to expose fraud. And Doral is a bank that knows fraud.
Doral found success in Puerto Rico as a mortgage lender. The institution really began to take off in 2005, when the housing market was booming.
However, by 2010, the bubble had burst, and the bank had to find a new way to maintain its momentum. The bank’s treasurer Mario Levis, known as Sammy, started to lie to investors about the value of the bank’s mortgage backed assets. When the scheme unraveled, the court sent Levis away for five years in prison, and Doral’s reputation and financial standing was horribly rocked.
Spagnoletti was brought on to the Puerto Rican financial institution shortly afterwards as a classic “by-the-books” banker, originally working in regional banks around New Jersey.
More than three years later, and Spagnoletti’s murder is still under investigation and unnerving for the Puerto Rico bank system. Spagnoletti’s widow may blame the bank, but others on the island had motive for killing an Doral employee from the mainland.
In the wake of the 2010 fraud scandal, Doral financial group approached Glen R. Wakeman from General Electric’s Latin America branch to step in as chief executive. He agreed and immediately started moving the bank’s focus away from Puerto Rico and on to the U.S. mainland.
He reviewed contracts with developers and began denying many of them renewals for their loans and took over failed projects to sell them at cheap prices. He also accepted investments from a small group of Wall Street investors, which included hedge funds and Goldman Sachs, and began buying up corporate debt from large Wall Street lenders.
The moves infuriated many people in Puerto Rico.
The New York Times reports that Wakeman was routinely harassed by local developers in public places.
In the end, the unpopular investments didn’t pay off, and Doral continues to be in serious financial trouble. Its biggest asset may be a $230 million tax refund check from Puerto Rico’s government, but after the bank’s perceived abandonment of the island, some in government are trying to prevent that check from ever being signed.
As for the government raid and Spagnoletti’s murder investigation, any bad news the FBI uncovers might be fatal for the Puerto Rican lender.
[Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons]
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It’s rare that more than one or two people get indicted for murder. But one strange news story out of Puerto Rico involves nine individuals possibly earning the death penalty for killing a single corrections officer from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons.
According to Fox News, nine different men from Puerto Rico have been convicted for the murder of Lt. Osvaldo Albarati on February 26, 2013. All nine of them were inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, when the incident occurred. Albarati had confiscated cellphones and other contraband from the inmates. This provoked the nine inmates to retaliate.
The United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico, Rosa Emilia Rodriguez, claimed that this was the first murder of a United States federal agent in Puerto Rico. Rodriguez spoke at a press conference on Friday, explaining that the nine defendants had carefully planned to kill the Puerto Rican correctional officer as a direct result of the confiscated items.
“Throughout his law enforcement career, Lieutenant Albarati’s service was both selfless and courageous,” said Rodríguez. “With this action, we continue our work to hold accountable those who carried out this reprehensible and senseless act. And in all that we do, the Department of Justice will continue to honor Lieutenant Albarati’s sacrifice, to safeguard the community he served, and to protect the values and principles he defended all his life.”
According to FBI.gov, the names of the Puerto Rico inmates include the leader of the group, Oscar Martínez-Hernández or “Cali,” Ángel D. Ramos-Cruz or “Api,” Miguel Díaz-Rivera or “Bolo,” Juan Quiñones-Meléndez or “El Manco,” Orlando Mojica-Rodríguez or “Yogui,” Jayson Rodríguez-González or “Gonzo,” Carlos Rosado-Rosado or “Cano,” Alexander Rosario de León or “Coquí,” and Jancarlos Velázquez-Vázquez or “Jan.”
The murder was orchestrated by Martínez-Hernández, Ramos-Cruz, and Díaz-Rivera, who hired other inmates to murder Albarati in the Puerto Rico prison. A cellphone, a vehicle and a firearm (four Glock.40) was provided by Quiñones-Meléndez and Mojica-Rodríguez to three other inmates Rodríguez-González, Rosado-Rosado and Rosario de León, who then carried out the murder. Velázquez-Vázquez was the driver for the crime.
The District of Puerto Rico Attorney reported that the crime could result in the death penalty, but she wouldn’t reveal if she would recommend the punishment herself. Instead, the decision will be left up to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
The death penalty was technically abolished in Puerto Rico in 1929, but capital punishment can still be enforced since Puerto Rico is a United States commonwealth. If the nine defendants are charged with the death penalty, all of the executions would have to be carried out off the island of Puerto Rico.
Do you think the nine defendants should be given the death penalty despite Puerto Rico’s laws?
For more news on crime in Puerto Rico, read about this murder, fraud, and conspiracy in a Puerto Rican bank.
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It's rare that more than one or two people get indicted for murder. But one strange news story out ofPuerto Rico involves nine individuals possibly earning the death penalty for killing a single corrections officer from the U.S. ...
