James Riley, better known as New York based independent wrestler Rude Boy Riley, was arrested Wednesday morning for having a collection of child pornography images on his phone.
According to the New York Post, police found child pornography on the computer at his family’s home, in addition to images of infants on Riley’s phone. Riley has been charged with 10 counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child and 20 counts of possessing a sexual performance by a child. Riley reportedly told police the images were on his phone at the time of the search; he was arraigned in Staten Island Criminal Court and made $3,500 bail. Assistant District Attorney Josh Freeman said in court that Riley:
“admitted in some substance that he possessed the photographs. He uploaded the images to Google and Tumblr and posted them on Tumblr.”
According to criminal complaint records, Riley has been in trouble before, reportedly uploaded at least nine images of children under age 16 engaging in sexual acts to his Google account in 2014, and uploaded another graphic image involving a child last year.
Riley was originally scheduled to wrestle for Punk Pro Wrestling in Orlando tonight, but they’ve since released a statement noting Riley was pulled from tonight’s event, and their Friday show. Pro Wrestling Sheet has since noted several other promotions, including Orlando City Wrestling, Warriors Of Wrestling and Tier 1 Wrestling, have dropped Riley. WPIX 11 also noted Riley has been terminated from his position at Staten Island’s Orangetheory Fitness gym, issuing the following statement:
“Orangetheory Fitness is shocked and appalled by the arrest of one of its franchisee’s employees in Staten Island, NY. Upon learning of the arrest, the franchisee immediately terminated the employee. Franchisees are required to conduct background and reference checks prior to hiring all coaches, and, in this case, the franchisee did conduct a background check upon hiring the employee and no prior incidents were discovered. The franchisee in Staten Island is fully cooperating with authorities.”
