January 11, 2001 02:17pm
Marines Investigate Porn Charges
Source: AP
(TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA) -- The Marine Corps is investigating allegations that Marines have posed naked for gay pornography being sold on the Internet, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
Pornographic pictures accompanied by a note asserting that Marines at the Twentynine Palms base are being recruited by other Marines and offered money for posing naked were sent anonymously to Commandant Gen. James Jones, touching off the investigation, the newspaper said.
Base spokesman Capt. Rob Crum said participation in pornographic activities is ``incompatible with the ideals upheld by the United States Marine Corps.''
The Web site, registered to a San Francisco company, boasts the men pictured are active-duty Marines and specifically mentions the Twentynine Palms base, the Marine Corps' top live-fire combat training center in San Bernardino County, where about 12,000 Marines are stationed.
The site uses the Marine Corps name, logo, insignia, initials and colors but carries a disclaimer that it is neither approved nor endorsed by the Marine Corps.
One of the men pictured has a Marine Corps tattoo and at least two have remnants of a Marine uniform. Videos are being sold with titles such as ``Three Lance Corporals.''
Investigators are trying to determine the scope of the situation.
In 1994, 10 enlisted Marines at Camp Pendleton, including one woman, were discharged after admitting they had posed naked for a pornographer trying to establish a mail-order business.
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