Buckeye resident Geoff Mena, the former employee of Surprise’s Community and Recreation Services Department, said he once worked in Web design, a minority portion of which included Web sites with sexual content, from June 2000 to December 2006.
Mena said he owned both adult and non-adult Web companies, designed pages, hosted an adult Web radio show and “very, very rarely” got in front of the camera in sex videos.
“There was some nudity” but the videos did not show his face, he said, and “I was not a porn star.”
Before 2000, Mena had a 12-year tennis career in California and worked as a tennis director at a country club near Palm Springs that employed his acquaintance, one-time Wimbledon doubles champion and current Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex Director John Austin.
Mena moved to Arizona in 2005. He said two years passed before he reconnected with Austin, a Scottsdale resident.
After Austin was named director of Surprise’s new 25-court Tennis & Racquet Complex around August 2006, Mena said he spoke with him over lunch about jobs available at the center.
“I disclosed to (Austin) my entire involvement in the adult entertainment industry, we decided that it was OK and that people were allowed to have other jobs outside of that business,” Mena said.
Mena said he was chosen for the tennis center position from about 150 applicants. He started work Aug. 13, and said his duties involved coordinating adult tennis programs, making phone calls and working the tennis center’s front desk.
Mena asserted that at least some city management also knew about his previous career in adult entertainment. Austin and other city staff declined to comment on anything involving Mena, citing privacy laws.
“Late last year, I had a change of heart and wanted to get back into tennis,” Mena said. “It’s personally more rewarding and satisfying than sitting behind a desk or at a computer designing Web pages.”
However, a letter sent to Austin dated Aug. 30 and signed “A concerned parent and Surprise resident” read, “My friend and I were talking to the tennis pro, Geoff Mena, about lessons, tournaments, etc. for our families. Once we returned home, we decided to ‘google’ his name to check his teaching credentials. It was at this time that we discovered that he also is involved in the adult entertainment industry. As a former Marine, I am certainly not a prude, but, after some discussion, Mr. Mena’s other career made us wary of him teaching our wives, daughters and their teenage friends.”
Mena was terminated around Sept. 11. He said that he was not given a reason for his firing, but added that if it had anything to do with the anonymous letter concerning his previous career, he thought the firing was a violation of his freedom of speech and was discriminatory.
“It demonizes me in a way. I’m not a criminal, I’m not a sex offender - I was at one time employed in the entertainment industry,” Mena said. “I’m a law-abiding citizen.”
Mena said he is contemplating taking legal action as a result of his firing.
The six-month period after a new city employee is hired is considered that employee’s introductory period, and the city has the right to terminate that employee at any time during that period without providing a reason, said city spokeswoman Diane Arthur.
Mena said his lower-level job in the tennis center paid about $39,000 a year.
Since leaving the city, Mena said that he has returned to designing Web sites.
Mark Kernes, senior editor of the Adult Video Network, an industry trade magazine and Web site, said several former adult entertainers have gone on to other successful careers.
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