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Porn star sought for Magnotta sting

Activists targeted body-parts suspect

By: Andy Blatchford

Posted: 07/11/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Ron Jeremy (CP)

MONTREAL -- Twin Playboy bunnies and an animal-rights group tried to enlist one of the world's biggest porn stars last year to help catch Luka Rocco Magnotta.

Ron Jeremy said he was asked to lure Magnotta, a small-time Canadian porn actor, to Los Angeles with a phoney job offer to appear in an X-rated flick.

The ploy was concocted more than a year before Magnotta became a murder suspect in the gruesome death of Montreal student Jun Lin.

Instead of meeting a legend who's cavorted for the camera in more than 2,000 adult films, Magnotta was to be apprehended by a hard-nosed group of animal-rights activists.

Jeremy, however, got cold feet and the sting operation never moved ahead.

At the time, animal-rights advocates had alleged Magnotta killed kittens and posted videos of the deeds on the Internet -- accusations he has publicly denied.

Jeremy, an active animal-rights campaigner, wanted to help out, but was uncomfortable with being the bait.

"That's a little bit out of my league, don't you think?" Jeremy said in a phone interview about the January 2011 proposal. "It's like an episode from some TV show. The (guy) comes to the set with lube in one hand and his schmeckle in the other, thinking he has a job, and the cops tackle him to the ground.

"That's good for the movies. That doesn't work in real life."

Last month, Magnotta was charged with first-degree murder in the ghastly May slaying and dismemberment of Lin, 33. He pleaded not guilty in a Montreal courtroom.

The idea for the porn-gig trap was hatched by Rescue Ink, a group of rough-and-tumble animal activists based in Queens, N.Y. Its membership includes police officers, military personnel and tattooed "street guys."

To connect with Jeremy, Rescue Ink reached out to a couple of his acquaintances: former Playboy playmates Sia and Shane Barbi, also known as the Barbi Twins.

Until a recent chat with a reporter, Jeremy wasn't aware Magnotta is now a murder suspect.

"I told Sia I'm willing to do things and help, do public service announcements or whatever it takes," said Jeremy, 59, who has been a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

"But I'm not a law-enforcement agent. How do I catch somebody?"

The actor, who has also directed nearly 300 porn films, was to personally invite Magnotta to a Hollywood adult-movie set.

Rescue Ink collaborators would have been waiting there to apprehend Magnotta. Their captive would have later been handed over to authorities.

Sia Barbi remembers Jeremy initially wanted to play along, even though they told him Magnotta was likely only interested in gay or bisexual adult movies.

"Ron Jeremy said: 'I only do straight porn,' " Barbi said in a phone interview.

"And I said, 'Ron, let's focus here. We don't want to hire him, we want to arrest him.' "

But as Jeremy learned more about his role, he got cold feet, she said.

The Barbis and Rescue Ink expressed concern at the time that the kitten killer in the video could eventually harm humans.

"I think it kind of spooked Ron," Barbi said. "It just got a little bit creepy for all of us."

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 11, 2012 A5

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