Porn site users claim Houston Police officer, wife duped us out of six figures

HOUSTON (WPVI) -- It's a story as old as the Internet: Boy meets girl. Girl gets naked on a porn website for boy, who tries to impress her by tipping her more than $200,000. Boy feels scammed when he finds out girl has a Houston cop husband who has been posing as a fellow online big-tipping fan of the girl.

The officer "compromised his status as an undercover officer" because of his activity on the site, records show, and he was also suspended from the Houston Police Department for five days, Ted Oberg Investigates has found.

The online site is called MyFreeCams.com and every day at any time, hundreds of women are posing in front of cameras, chatting with men around the world and taking their clothes off.

It's live and interactive. And despite the word 'free' in the website's name, some say that the site can be very expensive.

"The more you spend, the more attention you get," said one user of the website, who asked to be identified as Mark.

Mark, a frequent visitor, would know. He said he got a lot of attention at a pretty steep cost.

"Close to a quarter million dollars," Mark told ABC-13 on camera, with his face hidden and voice masked. "I just got a chill saying that."

Although Mark asked ABC-13 to hide his identity, he provided copies of his online records: Thousands of pages of online tips to nude or near-nude models.

In all it adds up to $244,000 sent to hundreds of women over a year and a half. And almost all of it sent to one woman who lives here in the Houston area.

A second man who spoke about the site and the model also wanted ABC-13 to keep his name private.

"I tipped around $100,000 over the year," he said. "It's a lot of money. It's an embarrassing amount of money."

Both Mark and the $100,000 man said they spent hours online and more time offline chatting up the Houston model, by texting, calling, and through Skype.

Before the men talked to each other, they both thought they were making a real life connection with a fantasy woman.

"It was an addiction," Mark said. "Almost cult like. There was a lot of this behind-the-scenes conversation that were built up: 'You mean the world to me,' the 'love' word would be dropped."

And while both men blame themselves for getting sucked in, they also blame the model and her Houston police officer husband for luring them in and allegedly bidding them up.

"I'd been taken, conned, played and played well," Mark said.

And the $100,000 man said, "It became clear I was hustled."

ABC-13 is naming neither the model nor the husband because neither has been charged with a crime nor named in a lawsuit. In addition, the model has a child and the husband has worked undercover for the Houston police in the past.

But the men who felt conned told both the FBI and the Houston Police that in order for the model to get more cash, the husband allegedly hid his true identity and they portrayed the wife as single and available.

"He was the number one cheerleader," Mark said.

Both men tell the same story: The model held raffles and high-tip contests. The prize was a date with her and no sex was ever promised. The husband posed as a wealthy military contractor and was online frequently, encouraging them to bid up the high tip contests and raffles.

Both also say he tipped too and and that he frequently won the contests.

What mark and the other men claim they didn't know is the pair lived at the same Houston area home for much of the time this bizarre tale unfolded.

Mark said he lost tens of thousands "trying to win two dates that ended up being awarded to what's now known to be her ex-husband."

The other man also described being duped.

"Her marital status, her family history, her employment history, her education history," he said. "Everything about her was a front and a means to an end of bilking for money."

In the midst of the couple taking in tens of thousands of dollars a month, the model and the police officer divorced.

After it all fell apart and police became involved, the husband told police investigators he "asked his wife to stop" and when she didn't, he asked for a divorce, according to police records.

But online records show his username was still active and the men say he was still winning contests for months after the divorce.

Houston police officials said last year his actions "were not unlawful, they degraded and brought disrespect to the department." That's also when he was slapped with the suspension.

That's not enough for Mark.

"To me if he's got poor judgment in this situation because they're looking to get more money, what does he do on the streets in your city?" he said.

The police officer declined interview requests from ABC-13. His attorney said he did not deny any of the allegations in the police department records we obtained.

His model ex-wife did not respond to ABC-13's efforts to get in touch, nor did officials with MyFreeCams.com.