Puerto Rico Senator Roberto Arango resigns amid nude photo scandal; pics surface from gay app Grindr

Puerto Rico Senator Roberto Arango resigns amid nude photo scandal; pics surface from gay app Grindr
BY Philip Caulfield
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, August 29th 2011, 9:04 AM



A Puerto Rican lawmaker has resigned amid reports he appeared in sexually explicit photos featured in an iPhone application for gays and bisexuals, the head of Puerto Rico's Senate announced.

Sen. Roberto Arango, a Republican who represents the capital of San Juan in the Senate of Puerto Rico, abruptly quit this weekend after local media published photos of a man resembling Arango in sexually suggestive poses from a gay-only app called Grindr.

One photo shows the man naked from the waist up, using an iPhone to hide his face.

In another, the man is totally nude and bent over on a bed, exposing his rear to the camera.

A third image showed the man's face, which strongly resembled Arango's, according to local media.

Arango wouldn't say if the sexy shots were of him.


Puerto Rico Senator Roberto Arango wouldn't say if the pictures that appeared on gay dating site Grindr, including the one above, were of him. (Grindr)

"I really don't remember having taken those pictures of myself, but it doesn't mean I didn't take them," he said in a recent interview with Puerto Rico's WAPA television. "I really don't remember."

Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz didn't release Arango's letter, but called his resignation "very lamentable."

Arango graduated from Lousiana State University and worked as a food importer before entering politics, according to his official website.

He was chairman of a business council for the national Republican Party and municipal director of the Republican Party in Puerto Rico, the site said.

Grindr is a guys-only gay dating app that uses GPS technology to locate potential hook-ups.

The photos of the man resembling Arango surfaced from unidentified tipsters, according to local news media.

Pedro Julio Serrano, founder of the gay rights group Puerto Rico for Everyone, said Arango voted for a proposal that would block same-sex marriage in the U.S. territory.

Arango's alleged horny escapades follow in the footsteps of several U.S. lawmakers who have resigned recently under similar circumstances, including former New York congressmen Anthony Weiner and Chris Lee.

"I really don't remember having taken those pictures of myself, but it doesn't mean I didn't take them," he said in a recent interview with Puerto Rico's WAPA television. "I really don't remember."