Jurors at AC corruption trial watch sex tape

MAYS LANDING, N.J. — Kristyn Haino had qualms about luring a stranger to a motel room and having sex with him at the behest of some acquaintances who would pay her for doing it.

But with an “all-day, everyday” heroin and cocaine habit, she needed the $200 to $300 the job would bring, and did as she was told — despite her suspicion the November 2006 encounter was being videotaped.

The assignment grew more distasteful when the man directed a steady stream of vulgar, sexist and racist comments at her as she engaged in a sex act.

Thankfully, it was over quickly, she testified Tuesday.

Then he slipped her a business card.

“It said ‘City Councilman,’” she testified. “At that point, it was way out of my league.”

Haino is the prostitute at the center of one of Atlantic City most colorful corruption cases in decades. It involves a plan hatched by former Council President Craig Callaway to ruin council rival Eugene Robinson, who had broken with Callaway and switched allegiances after Callaway admitted taking bribes.

Callaway admitted masterminding the scheme and was sentenced last year to three years in prison, to be served concurrently with a 40-month sentence in the federal bribery case.

His brothers Ronald and David, and friend Floyd Tally are on trial for conspiracy, criminal coercion and invasion of privacy in the videotaping case.

Haino testified that a friend and Tally recruited her to have sex with a man for money “because he turned his back on his friends.”

Waiting for Robinson to emerge from a 7-11 where he was known to buy junk food most nights, Haino testified, a man she identified as Ronald Callaway pointed out the target to her, saying, “There he is, go!”

She walked up to Robinson and told him her girlfriends were staying at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa on the other side of the city.

“I told him he looked like a nice gentleman and asked him if he could give me a ride,” she testified. “He was all for it.”

En route to the casino, she said she changed her mind and wanted to go to home to her motel. When they drew near it, she testified, “I said I wanted to compensate him for giving me a ride home.”

They walked into room 102 at the Bayview Motel in neighboring Absecon. She got Robinson to sit in a specially placed chair, as she said she had been instructed to do, and asked him for money to buy sodas. This was yet another directive from the defendants, she testified: Make sure he hands you money for something.

The last directive: During sex, make sure he looks over at the clock (which was outfitted with a hidden camera, though no one told her that at the time).

Haino testified that Robinson was crude and verbally abusive while she performed oral sex on him.

It was only after the recording surfaced publicly and Robinson — a Baptist minister — went to the authorities alleging he was being blackmailed that she began to have some sympathy for him.

“I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I was OK with it,” she testified. “When I found out he was a religious man, it hurt. It affected me. I knew this man’s reputation was hurt, and I felt bad. I still do.”

About 10 seconds of the tape was played in court Tuesday, showing the two entering the motel room and kissing.

Prosecutors allege the defendants leaked the tape to the media with a note claiming it showed Robinson having sex with a 16-year-old girl (Haino was 24 at the time of the encounter) in an attempt to force him to resign from the City Council.

Haino, who is originally from Tuckerton and now lives in Virginia Beach, Va., spent 18 months in rehab and says she has not used drugs or engaged in prostitution in two years.

Tally was granted permission by the judge to question witnesses after complaining that his lawyer was mishandling the case. During his cross-examination of Haino in which Tally had a freeze-frame from the tape displayed on a screen, he was frustrated that the video did not prove a point he was trying to make about the layout of the room.

“Can we get a different camera angle?” he asked aloud.

“Your honor,” Chief Assistant Prosecutor James McClain replied, “the defendants only manufactured one videotape; this is all we have.”

Testimony will continue Wednesday.