Puerto Rico police to investigate claim of extortion try over nude pictures of Pablo Montero

PR cops to probe case of nude Pablo Montero pics

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Authorities are investigating claims an exotic dancer tried to extort money from Mexican singer and actor Pablo Montero by threatening to release nude pictures of him, police said Thursday.

The photographs were taken at a hotel room in San Juan and recently published in a New York entertainment magazine, said Harold Rosario, Montero’s publicist.

Rosario said that a photographer invited the dancer up to Montero’s room after a June 14 concert and that a woman later called the publicist demanding money in exchange for pictures showing the singer without clothes.

Police plan to interview Montero, Rosario and the woman, said Pedro Sanchez, Puerto Rico’s criminal investigations director.

The woman, who identified herself only as “Sweetness” in a television interview with Univision Puerto Rico, alleged that Montero never paid her for her services, which she claimed included dancing and intimacy.

“I also work, just like him,” she said, claiming that Mira magazine paid her $5,000 for the pictures.

She said in the interview that Montero, who appears to be sleeping in the pictures, did not consent to them.

Rosario said the woman was in Montero’s room but denied she provided him with any kind of service. The publicist identified the photographer only as “Jose,” saying he was hired to take pictures of Montero during the concert and joined in an after-concert party at the hotel before going to the singer’s room.

Montero last made headlines after completing a rehab program in February. He was arrested in 2007 in Miami when police found a small bag of cocaine in his car, two days after he helped present Latin Grammy nominees at a news conference. Prosecutors dropped the charges after Montero completed the rehab program.

Montero was nominated for a 2006 Latin Grammy for his ranchero album “A Toda Ley.”