CORTLAND COUNTY, N.Y. — from www.ynn.com – The Cortland County district attorney has admitted this afternoon to being involved in the adult film industry. Mark Suben made the admission during a press conference Friday afternoon.

The admission follows allegations and a recent YouTube posting comparing pictures of Suben and a porn star from the 70s, who went by the name of ‘Gus Thomas,’ among other names.

Suben said he showed poor judgment as young person and was involved in the adult film industry. He said he lied to people making previous inquiries about his past.

Suben did not answer questions outside of reading a written statement. When asked if he planned to step down, he said he had no further comment.

from www.nytimes.com – So much for that slow-news Friday: It turns out that Cortland County District Attorney Marc Suben really was a 70’s porn star. I never thought I’d actually use that phrase in reporting. But there you have it.

Jim Kenyon of CNY Central TV wrote earlier today about a YouTube video (it’s obviously, uh, pornographic, so I’m not running it here) “produced by an individual calling himself Irwin Schmeck, runs 15 minutes and shows clips from a number of pornographic films featuring an actor named Gus Thomas.

“The video entitled ‘DistrictAttorneypornstar3’ tries to make the case that Gus Thomas is an alias for Mark Suben. The producer compares images of Mark Suben with those of Gus Thomas. It also presents circumstantial evidence that places Suben in New York City as a struggling actor during the 70’s, which is where the pornographic films were produced,” Kenyon reported.

Suben, a Democrat who defeated the GOP’s Keith Dayton for re-election this year, had previously told Kenyon in an October interview that rumors about his career in skin flicks were part of a smear campaign to ruin his reputation and that the actor in question was merely a look-alike.

But shortly after today’s CNY Central story went up, Suben called a presser.

John O’Brien of the Syracuse Post-Standard writes, “In a 3 p.m. news conference today, [Suben] admitted that he lied about his history to The Post-Standard and other news operations in the days before the Nov. 6 election. He was re-elected to a second term. He read a statement and would not take questions. He refused to answer a question about whether he should resign.”

During his presser, (nonpornographic) video of which you can see here, Suben said, in part: “Recently materials have been circulated alleging that I was involved in the adult film industry 40 years ago in New York. Those allegations are true I was an actor in adult films for a short period in the early 70s.

“I was also an actor in other venues including off Broadway, soap operas and commercial advertisements. A few weeks ago, when asked, I denied this to members of the press. I regret that and apologize for it. I was shocked and embarrassed to be confronted with this so many years later. I was embarrassed for my family and friends who stood by me. I also denied my actions to my family, my friends and my staff,” said Suben.

After Suben says he gets up to leave, the cameras continue to run and you can hear a man say, “You lied to me, Marc” and another echoing, “You lied to me too, Marc.”