Robinson suit cites humiliation from sex-tape, blackmail scheme
By REGINA SCHAFFER
Staff Writer, 609-272-7211
Published: Friday, November 21, 2008
An Atlantic City Councilman involved in a sex-tape bribery scandal has filed a lawsuit against the men who filmed his encounter with a prostitute.In the lawsuit, Councilman Gene Robinson claims he was humiliated and suffered severe mental anguish after a November 2006 videotape of his encounter with a prostitute was released to the public in an attempt to force him to resign his council seat.Prosecutors allege former City Council President Craig Callaway helped plan the luring and videotaping of Robinson in an oral sex encounter with a woman at a roadside motel. Robinson then was allegedly threatened with the video days later and ordered to resign his council seat or the tape would be released to the public.Instead, Robinson went to the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office, which found that he hadn't paid the woman and charged Callaway, his brothers Ronald and David, Councilman John Schultz and city resident Floyd Tally with various counts of conspiracy and coercion.The 10-count lawsuit, filed Nov. 12, names the city of Atlantic City; Craig, David and Ronald Callaway; Schultz; Tally; Councilwoman Joyce Mollineaux; Mosharraf Hossain, owner of the Bayview Motel; the motel itself; former Mayor Bob Levy; former Business Administrator Dominic Capella; and Absecon resident David Santos, a video editor, as defendants in the case.
Robinson's lawsuit, filed by attorney Daniel Perskie, of Northfield, claims a woman named Kristyn Haino approached Robinson outside an Atlantic City convenience store and asked him for a ride to the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, where she was to meet her friends. Robinson agreed to give the woman a ride, the suit states, but she requested that Robinson first take her to her motel room on the White Horse Pike.Once there, Haino asked Robinson for money to buy a soda, the suit states. Robinson gave the woman "a couple of dollars" to purchase the soda, the suit says."Ms. Haino left the room and returned with the soda and then lured the plaintiff to the bed in the room as she was instructed to do by the defendants," the suit states.Several of the defendants, the suit states, were in the adjacent motel room filming the encounter "for purposes of attempting to extort and blackmail (Robinson) into resigning from his position as an Atlantic City councilman.""As a direct and proximate cause of the actions of the defendants ... Eugene Robinson was caused to suffer severe and extreme emotional distress and mental anguish, embarrassment, humiliation within the community, damage to his personal and business reputation, physical injuries and economic damages all to his detriment," the suit claims.David and Ronald Callaway, Tally and Schultz have all pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. Craig Callaway rejected a final plea offer for his alleged role in the scandal and instead will take his case to trial Dec. 1.The suit seeks punitive damages, attorneys' fees and costs associated with filing the lawsuit.E-mail Regina Schaffer:RSchaffer@pressofac.com
Print Story
Email Story
