Was Patrick Stone an AHF Plant at Kink.com?

False? Positive. The curious case of Patrick Stone earns a new chapter.

As you may recall, Patrick Stone is the guy who appeared at an AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) press conference alongside Cameron Bay, Rod Daily, Derrick Burts and Darren James on September 18, 2013, to attack the adult business as it pressed through a season of three production moratoria and zero on-set transmissions.

Out of all Michael Weinstein’s speakers that day, Stone stood alone as the sole HIV-negative performer. Stone claimed he had recently been issued a likely ‘false positive’ HIV test result.

Stone dropped from public view shortly thereafter, only to resurface earlier this year as the so-called “former Kink.com employee” referenced by pro-AHF blogger Mike South, who had filed Cal/OSHA complaints (with the assistance of AHF), and whose redacted paperwork was liberally sprinkled into South’s rants against adult performer testing protocols.

However, the most remarkable part of Stone’s story was that he claimed to have been present at an August 9, 2013 Bound in Public shoot for Kink.com that he, in fact, never attended, thus earning the nickname, “The Man Who Wasn’t There”.

Stone would have likely remained a bizarre footnote in adult film history had he not he turned up in Sacramento for the August 4, 2014 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on AB 1576, AHF’s ill-fated mandatory ‘protective barriers’ in porn bill.

At the hearing, Stone addressed the panel using his legal name, David Cope, and described himself as an “HIV Testing Counselor” in San Francisco.

It turns out he sure is.

In fact, Stone is currently employed at AHF’s Out of The Closet chain store/AHF Pharmacy at 100 Church Street in San Francisco. (The one where AHF has stopped paying rent.)

I confirmed that he works there by paying a visit on August 17th. When I arrived at the store, Stone was outside having a smoke. As soon as he saw he me, he bolted inside and hid in the office. He later tried to evade me by donning a gray hoodie and slipping through the building’s side door.

I really wanted to speak to him about his claims, so I rang him on the store’s phone — he hung up on me. Then I emailed him — no reply. 🙁

Interestingly, a source informs TRPWL that the near-friendless Stone drives a scooter (just like fellow porn washouts Donny Long and Monica Foster), and that his wife left him earlier this year. She is stripping, and is in Guam at press time.

But here’s the most intriguing part: according to a knowledgable source in San Francisco, Stone has claimed that he’s been employed by AHF since late 2012 or early 2013.

That would mean Patrick Stone was with AHF when he sought work at Kink.com in May 2013.

Adult business insiders have long wondered if the world would see an AHF plant in porn. Patrick Stone, in word and action, gives every indication of having been that AHF plant.

Stone and AHF

In March of this year, the following letter, published in full here for the first time (although we have redacted the names of Kink.com employees), went out to Kink.com and various governmental agencies. It strikes the same notes as AHF’s anti-porn crusade:

TRPWL published a short excerpt of this letter in our previous report on Stone — the section where he falsely claimed to have attended the August 9th shoot.

When I mentioned the letter to Kink.com owner Peter Acworth during my last trip to the Bay Area, he indicated that he thought the letter was “ridiculous”. It contained so many distortions and fabrications, Acworth said, that he never took it seriously.

In light of recent developments, however, it behooves us to run through Stone’s claims one by one:

On May 14, 2013, Patrick Stone emailed Kink.com to apply for work as a model. He started off by lying about his age (Stone was then 31):

Hi there. I’m a 28 year old bi white male in the San Francisco area looking to get into adult films. I’m 5’10”, 150 lbs., dark hair & eyes, slim swimmer’s build, naturally smooth, with a full-sleeve tattoo and 8 inches cut.

I have experience including some gay and fetish work. I’m bisexual with a preference for women, but I also enjoy cock. I’d be open to straight, bi, shemale, or fetish projects. Attached are some recent pics.

The following day, Kink’s talent recruiter emailed him back to invite him to an open casting call. On May 19, Stone accepted the invitation to the casting call via email, and on June 4th, he confirmed.

On June 5th, Kink held an open casting call for potential local male amateur talent which Patrick Stone attended. He was interviewed by three talent department staff in a group interview. According to those present, they discussed Kink’s various websites, including The Upper Floor, in a general way, describing the type of content on Kink sites.

Only “main” male talent gets on an Upper Floor shoot, and they’re never paid $1200. According to Kink.com, the maximum Stone could make on an Upper Floor shoot would be $400 if he was a well established model in the industry, which he was not. Brand new models such as Patrick Stone are not hired for Upper Floor shoots.

The casting call at which Stone interviewed was for amateur males who might be usable on Public Disgrace and/or Bound in Public as an “extra” model. If they do well on one of these shoots they could be considered for other sites, but since Patrick Stone struggled with getting hard and performing, he never was offered or considered for a lead role that would give him access to The Upper Floor.

According to email correspondence provided to TRPWL, it appears that Stone even had some difficulty at the audition.

The Kink employee Stone identified as discussing a $1,200 fee is in fact not a booker. She does not talk about rates/payment and she does not offer booking requests in interviews — or any other time — at Kink. Kink did have two talent bookers present at Patrick Stone’s interview, and none witnessed any of the statements Stone alleges. They were present the entire time Stone was interviewed.

Later on June 5th, after the casting call, Patrick Stone emailed photographs of himself to the interviewer to finish his model application. This is one of the SFW pics:

On June 6th, another Kink.com employee sent Stone a booking request regarding a Bound in Public shoot set for June 20, 2013 and cc’d Kink’s Talent Coordinator, who sent Stone detailed information about adult performer testing.

Next…

Stone signed up for APHSS (now PASS), the adult performer testing and test verification system administered by Free Speech Coalition, and on Monday, June 10, 2013, he got the APHSS-approved testing panel through SameDayTest.com (AMTC).

Three days later, on June 13th, Stone emailed the Talent Coordinator that he’d received his results.

Note that the Talent Coordinator declined Patrick Stone’s offer to see his Stone’s actual medical test results, and let him know that Kink would simply view his clearance for work through its Producer access on APHSS.

APHSS/PASS was not and is not a “publicly accessible site” as the letter asserts. It is a private, password protected site that is used by models and producers to follow HIPAA regulations, and it does not include any medical information.

On June 20, 2013, Stone made his infamous appearance as a “tested extra” in a Public Disgrace scene. It was his first and only scene for Kink.com.

Prior to filming, performers — including “tested extras” — complete a “condom addendum” indicating whether or not they wish to use a condom. Stone chose to not use condoms in the scene.

When the cameras rolled, he received a brief blow job by adult performer Allie James but he could not get hard.

He then attempted to achieve erection on his own in order to attempt vaginal sex with James, but again he could not stay hard. He did not ejaculate in the scene.

No hard feelings

Kink held on to Stone’s information, and on June 28th they sent him a last minute book request for a shoot that day. It was not sent the day before as Stone’s letter states — it was sent on the day of the shoot because of a last minute cancellation.

Stone accepted the booking and then no showed. He did call to let them know he had car trouble, as discussed by Kink.com employees in this July 24th, 2013 email.

Next comes the August 9, 2013 shoot that Stone lied about having attended and participated in:

TRPWL reported on this previously, but here is documentation that substantiates our report. On August 7th, Kink sent Stone a booking request for the August 9th shoot, and Stone accepted.

Come August 9th, Patrick Stone no-showed at the shoot. These text messages demonstrate that he did not attend.

Moving on…

On August 12, 2013 Kink sent the original inquiry to Stone regarding a Divine Bitches shoot scheduled for September 11, 2013.  Stone was sent testing info on August 20, 2013, not September 20 as the letter claims. That provided plenty of time for him to get tested.

On September 9th, Kink sent two update emails about the Divine Bitches shoot being canceled due to the industrywide production moratorium. Stone received at last one of them and responded:

The next excerpt begins with Stone and his attorney getting some dates wrong again. The first production moratorium began August 21st, not September 21st.

On August 22, 2013 Patrick Stone was sent a booking request for a Bound in Public shoot that would take place if the moratorium was lifted by August 28. On August 26th, 2013 Stone was canceled and he actually emailed to say he received the cancelation notice.

By September 3, Patrick Stone’s June test had long since expired and he was set to “Not Available” on the PASS database. He had to re-test in order to be cleared for work. Once again, producers such as Kink will only know whether performers are available to work, or not available to work.

This time, he booked his testing through a different service, STDstatus.

On September 9th, Kink reached out to Stone about his approaching Divine Bitches shoot. The shoot had been kept on Kink’s calendar in case the production moratorium was lifted. If the moratorium continued through the 11th they would need to cancel. Kink soon emailed him again at 4:26 PM (PST) and canceled his shoot when it was clear the moratorium would run through September 11th. Stone received the email and replied to it at 5:29 PM.

As for Stone’s claims regarding his testing, because of HIPAA regulations regarding medical privacy we simply cannot know precisely what transpired between Sept 3rd and Sept 10th — we would have to rely on his word.

And if the foregoing demonstrates anything at all, it would be: If you can’t trust Patrick Stone, who can you trust? LOL

Nonetheless, there are a few obvious holes in Stone’s story:

Earlier this year, an AHF-friendly gossip site posted what purports to be an email dated Sept. 10, 2013 notifying Stone of his “reactive” HIV test result. The email was purportedly sent by STDStatus.com (via “FPK Services”), not PASS.

Email notification is not PASS protocol and, moreover, PASS does not have access to a performer’s actual test results. The email also says nothing of his testing results — if anything, the email reads like his test was clear and that the only reason he could not be listed as “Available” on PASS was the production moratorium, which had begun on September 6th.

If we assume this email is legit, and that there had been no previous contact made by STDStatus, and that the test result attached was indeed “reactive”, then it would appear that Stone’s complaint about his treatment should be with the clinic, not PASS.

However, there’s also this…

On September 9, 2013, the following post appeared on Reddit, and we reported it here on TRPWL. It is unquestionably Stone.

Two things are striking: the first is the very formal phrasing, almost like a press release.

More significantly, however, Stone states he was informed of a “positive” result via email on September 9th.

Yet, the document produced by Stone months later indicates a September 10th notification.

Something is rotten in Denmark.

The processing time for testing at that PASS-affiliated facility should take no longer than 3-4 days. On September 9th, Stone did not mention to anyone at Kink that he was not cleared to shoot even though he should have known his test results if he tested where he claims, on September 3. His June test results had taken only three days. Likewise, Stone didn’t mention anything about his test results being delayed.

If Stone knew his test result, as he should have if he’d tested under PASS, then this begs another question…

Why would Stone keep a booking when he knows he has a “reactive” test?

Showtime

On September 18, Stone appeared at an AHF press conference. “It’s looking like a false-positive, but we’re still not 100 percent sure about that,” said Stone.

From Huffington Post‘s coverage of the AHF event:

Porn performer Patrick Stone told reporters he was asked to perform in a shoot even after he tested positive for HIV. He said he was told he was HIV-positive in an email on Sept. 10 from Performer Availability Screening Services, which handles STD testing for the industry. Stone said he never got a follow-up call or email from PASS, or from his employer Kink.com, to discuss the results or schedule follow-up testing. Instead, he got an email from Kink.com two days later inquiring about scheduling a shoot this week, he said…..

“It’s been kind of a whirlwind week for me emotionally,” Stone said. “I feel that the testing process for PASS is not working. If I was allowed to fall through the cracks like I did, who else is out there?

“I mean, they had me scheduled for a shoot tomorrow and as far as they knew, I was HIV-positive,” Stone said.

Notice how all of Stone’s claims are focused on attacking FSC-PASS and Kink.com. Would one expect anything less from an AHF employee?

Now we know the test result email, if sent at all, did NOT come from PASS — but what about that booking inquiry from Kink.com?

It’s also featured in the attorney letter…

We asked Peter Acworth.

It turns out that, on September 12, 2013, Kink did in fact send Stone a booking request for a shoot on September 19th — but it was a shoot with no fluid or skin contact.

Furthermore, Kink.com did not know about Stone’s reactive HIV test when it scheduled him for the shoot.

Furthermore, according to company policy (and PASS protocol) before he would have been allowed to perform in any sex scene, Stone would have been required to take a new set of STI tests.

As Acworth responded at the time, “In order to shoot with Kink he would have had to retest clean. Anything else is either a misunderstanding or a misrepresentation.”

As for the Cal/OSHA complaint that AHF filed on Stone’s behalf, it also includes several of Stone’s (and AHF’s) fabrications and distortions (bolded). Here is an excerpt that was published on a lesser site:

AIDS Healthcare Foundation is filing this complaint on behalf and with the cooperation of former KINK.COM employee David Cope AKA Patrick Stone. [Performer] reports that on [date withheld], he and other adult film employees were exposed to bloodborne pathogens and other potentially infectious materials in two media/films from KINK.COM’s [redacted] series.

He is still listed on the industry database, PASS, as clear to work and was recently contacted by KINK.COM to perform despite the industry moratorium. There is strong indication that this is the fifth acute HIV infection. We believe four of these acute HIV infections can be directly associated with KINK.COM shoots within specific time frames.

As detailed on TRPWL over the last year, there were only three reported and confirmed HIV infections among adult performers last summer: Cameron Bay, Rod Daily and Sofia Delgado. All three are from Phoenix, Arizona; Cameron and Rod were an on again-off again romantic item; and only Cameron and Rod worked for Kink.com. Moreover, none of the  scene partners those three worked with have tested HIV-positive. This means, as a matter of both logic and science, that they contracted HIV somewhere other than on camera.

In closing, we’d like to add that not only is it shameful that AHF would promote such disinformation, and instigate government proceedings based upon lies and misrepresentations — at taxpayer expense — it’s also fascinating that the organization has such a long history of betting on the wrong horse: Desi Foxx, Shelley Lubben, Derrick Burts, Patrick Stone, Mike South, “Dr.” Isadore Hall…

Michael Whiteacre