TV role costs Nevada state worker his job

A computer specialist has lost his job at the state Department of Corrections because he portrayed a customer at a Nevada brothel for a television show.

James Wood and his wife, Amy, were actors in an HBO program about the Moonlite Bunny Ranch east of Carson City. Wood said he was within six days of completing his one-year probation period at the department when he received notice he wouldn't be retained "for moral reasons."

Glen Whorton, assistant director of the state Department of Corrections, said in an e-mail to Keith Munro, legal counsel to Gov. Kenny Guinn, that Wood terminated for "inappropriate activity."

"I indicated that his involvement was inappropriate because it exploited women, and we incarcerated many women with similar backgrounds," Wharton said in his e-mail.

Wood worked in the central office at the Department of Corrections that oversees the prison system and said he never had any contact with inmates or family.

By failing to complete his probation, Wood returns to his former job at the state Department of Information Technology and sees a salary cut of about 15 percent.

Wood and his wife perform in local theater productions. He and his wife were paid $1,000 from HBO and $500 from the brothel to act as a couple that went to the bordello to negotiate a price for the services of two women.