YNOT – A judge has ordered Florida authorities to return about $63,000 seized from an adult content producer during a February raid of his Tampa Bay, Fla., home. However, the obscenity case against Michael “Dirty D” Storm and two employees will proceed.Storm, owner-operator of the affiliate program HowIGotRich.com and a number of explicit adult websites, was arrested in March and charged with four child pornography counts after a performer complained she was underage in 2007 when Storm and two others filmed her engaging in explicit sexual activity. Storm, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, is free on $200,000 bail awaiting a Sept. 22 hearing on two counts of use of a child in a sexual performance and two counts of promotion of a sexual performance by a child.
Two members of Storm’s camera crew—Stephen Chastain, 36, and Ryan Holtz, 24—were arrested in February following a raid that seized the cash, videos and computer equipment containing about 10 terrabytes of data. Chastain and Holtz, who were charged with two counts each of promotion of a sexual performance by a child, are free on $20,000 bail each.
Dirty D has denied the charges in numerous published reports, saying the performer—who has worked under several noms de porn, including Kelsey Cummings—presented a fake ID in order to gain work in the adult industry. The young woman alleged Dirty D and his employees knew her credentials were illegitimate but encouraged her to perform sexually explicit scenes anyway.
In addition to the affiliate program, Storm’s companies include Web Wizard Inc., talent agency TampaNudeModels.com and a network of 17 websites including PartyWildNaked.com, TheaterSluts.com, GloryHoleGirlz.com, GhettoConfessions.com, RealOrgasmVideos.com, GangBangHood.com and AlmostFemale.com.
The current case is not Storm’s first brush with the law. In March 2009, he and two others were arrested inside a Tampa adult theater and charged with two misdemeanors each: exposure and lewd-and-lascivious conduct. At the time he told AVN.com the arrest was a politically motivated attempt to humiliate him. He was released on $750 bond.
