GOP Candidate Outed, Accused of Threat to Deport His Ex

Accused of threatening to deport his ex-boyfriend if he wouldn't keep silent about their relationship, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, who is a Republican candidate for Congress in Arizona, has quit his post with the Mitt Romney campaign today.

The Arizona Republicreports that Babeu, who is infamous for his tough stance on illegal immigration, had volunteered as co-chairman of Romney's presidential campaign in the state. But that's all over now, "so he can focus on the allegations against him," a Romney spokesman told the newspaper.

The Phoenix New Times broke the story this week that a 34-year-old Mexican man named Jose is claiming to be the sheriff's former boyfriend of several years. Jose says they met in 2006 on Gay.com. He has pictures of them together, and copies of text messages they exchanged.

The relationship went sour when Jose says the sheriff was discovered cheating. Jose found the sheriff's profile on another gay dating website where Babeu apparently posted a self-portrait while standing in a bathroom mirror in his underwear. His screenname was "studboi1." And when Jose contacted him via the site and pretended to be a man interested in fooling around, Babeu sent explicit photos and arranged a meeting — which Jose showed up for.

Read the complete story at the Phoenix New Times.