Gay porn star Jordan Joplin charged with murder
The former adult actor is accused of robbing and killing surgeon Eric Garcia.
A former gay porn star has been charged with murder.
Jordan Joplin, 32, appeared in at a court in Ketchikan, Alaska, this week after the death of a surgeon named Eric Garcia, who Joplin claims was his friend.
He was initially charged with the theft of Garcia’s possessions before he was later charged with the man’s murder.
According to a Ketchikan grand jury, Joplin, who worked with various gay porn studios under different stage names, stole expensive watches, gold and a coin collection worth approximately £350,000 from the surgeon – all allegations he has denied.
According to KTUU, Joplin told authorities he was visiting Garcia on March 16 and stayed overnight before returning to his Washington home.
The pair allegedly planned a catch up later that week at a medical conference in Las Vegas, but Garcia never showed up.
Joplin later called Ketchikan police to say he hadn’t heard from Garcia as expected. The police knocked on Garcia’s home, which appeared vacant, but didn’t enter as they knew he might be travelling for business at the time.
The former porn star then called police once more a week later and told them he was planning a visit to see Garcia on March 27 and could let them into the house. As he waited outside, police entered the home and found Garcia’s dead body.
Ketchikan police said Garcia had been dead for about 10 days. Deputy Police Chief Josh Dossett said Joplin was acting strangely after discovering Garcia’s death.
“He was very aloof,” Dossett said. “He was, the way he was acting with this female he had brought up with him, I guess overly romantic with her right there in the driveway. This was supposed to be his good friend that has passed away.”
Speaking about the death, Deputy Police Chief Josh Dossett said: “There was nothing suspicious about the actual body or the scene to indicate at the time that there was any foul play.”
Police also searched Garcia’s trunk, the vehicle Joplin was driving at the time, and found a reciept for a local shipping company. They then discovered that Joplin had been caught on surveillance cameras loading over 4,000 pounds on to three containers which where shipped to Washington.
Authorities tracked the shipments down and found Garcia’s belongings inside a portion of the watch collection, a portion of Garcia’s coin collection as well asa flat screen TV, two laptops and more items.
Joplin was later arrested and taken to Ketchikan where he is being held on £140,000 bail. His trial is scheduled for November this year.