Colonie

A Schenectady police sergeant who admitted making pornographic movies with his live-in boyfriend has been suspended as the department investigates the pair's business dealings and their alleged attempt last month to use a counterfeit check to buy an expensive sports car.

Sgt. Jonathan E. Moore, 35, was at a Colonie auto dealership last month when his boyfriend, Anthony Aubin, 27, was arrested on felony charges as they tried to use a fraudulent check to purchase a $92,000 2016 Jaguar coupe, according to arrest records.

But the arrest of Aubin, who has a lengthy criminal record and was recently on parole, has triggered a much broader, multi-agency police investigation into allegations that gay officers may have hosted or taken part in sex parties — called "breeding parties" — that allegedly were attended by teenagers who were not of legal age to drink alcohol or consent to having sex with adults.

The Albany Police Department's internal affairs unit is investigating information allegedly connecting one of its officers to the case, and other departments may also become involved in the broader investigation, according to a person briefed on the matter but not authorized to comment publicly.

Schenectady police officials could not be reached Tuesday evening and did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Albany police Chief Brendan Cox said the investigation by the department is in the early stages.

"I'm not really in a position to say anything about it at this point," Cox said. "There is a case we are looking into but we are not in a position to even gauge whether or not there is any truth to what has been alleged."

Last month, police searched the Schenectady apartment shared by Aubin and Moore. Law enforcement sources said Moore was suspended by his department, but Schenectady police officials have not publicly disclosed any information about the case.

In a sworn statement following Aubin's arrest last month, Moore stated he and Aubin met about 10 years ago and became friends before Aubin enlisted in the Army and left the area.

In 2010, Aubin was arrested and sent to prison and returned to the area in July. Details of that conviction were not available Tuesday.

"We met for lunch in July and we ... became friends and developed a friendship," Moore said in the statement attributed to him. In time, he said, Aubin moved into Moore's apartment and Moore said he used a police computer at the Schenectady department to regularly check Aubin's parole status.

Moore said he had "debt issues" and that Aubin offered to "help me get out of debt" by producing "gay porn" movies for a Florida company, Bear Films.

"I researched them and they are a legitimate company," Moore said in the statement. "Anthony accepted a contract with Bear Films and I ultimately took a job with them as well ..."

But the deal with Bear Films fell apart, Moore said, and a Miami woman who was acting as their agent brokered a deal for the men with another adult film company, FratX, from Connecticut. In early October, the company was supposed to wire "salaries" of Aubin and Moore into a SEFCU bank account but the men's agent told them the transaction triggered a suspicious activity report and that the funds were being held up until the bank could verify the "funds were legitimate due to the amount," which was supposed to be roughly $400,000, according to Moore.

In late September, with the promise of a lot of outside income, Moore said, the men made plans to buy a new house and went car shopping.

"Anthony and I went to Capitol Luxury Cars on New Karner Road and I test drove a Jaguar ... and a Range Rover Sport that Anthony was going to buy," the officer said.

Moore said a representative of the adult film company came to Albany, visited the dealership and promised to buy the Jaguar for Anthony.

But Moore said a bank wire transfer that the adult-film representative said he would make never went through and that their female agent, who may have been an attorney, issued two checks to them: $90,000 for the Jaguar and $80,000 for the Range Rover.

Moore told Colonie detectives, who arrested Aubin and handled the counterfeit check investigation, that he has emails from the woman documenting her promises.

But on Oct. 12, the Jaguar that Moore was supposed to have delivered to his residence never arrived. He said their adult-film agent, whose first name is Sandra, told them that Capitol Luxury Cars had sent her a cease-and-desist letter indicating they would not do business with any of them.

The dealership had flagged the group after staff members around that time researched Aubin's name on the Internet and learned he had been involved in stealing expensive cars from other auto dealerships, including in Rhode Island where was arrested for stealing a Range Rover that he took on a test drive and never returned.

Sonia L. Older, sales manager at Capitol Luxury Cars in Colonie, informed her manager of what was unfolding and he contacted Colonie police, who were monitoring the situation as Aubin and Moore continued making arrangements to buy the $90,000 Jaguar. In mid-October, Older said Aubin brought a 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokee to the dealership and offered it as a trade in. "We offered him $30,000 for his Jeep and he immediately agreed," Older wrote in a statement taken by police. "It seemed like he was too amenable to that offer; usually people will negotiate a bit more."

Aubin told the dealership that he was going to use money from a "trust" to pay for the vehicles, and that the Jaguar should be put in Moore's name.

As the deal went forward, Aubin texted the sale manager a photograph of a Bank of America check made out to the dealership for $92,083. The check was written from a purported Florida company, Wyanesk & Schwartz, Esq., in Miami.

"It didn't seem right," Older told police. "I contacted Bank of America and they verified that the check was fraudulent and that the account number did not exist."

When Aubin and Moore showed up at the dealership on Oct. 12 with the counterfeit check, Aubin was arrested. It's unclear whether Colonie police considered filing charges against Moore, whose name was on the sales documents and was supposed to purchase the Jaguar.

Aubin is also accused of using a $15,000 counterfeit check on Oct. 11 to purchase the 2016 white Jeep Grand Cherokee that was part of the trade-in for the Jaguar.

In that case, it was also a Bank of America check that was issued in the name of a purported Albany company, VIPStructures on Washington Avenue Extension.

Moore did not return a telephone call on Tuesday evening. In his statement to police, he said he was not aware the checks were fraudulent.

"At no time did Anthony tell me that the checks issued to me from (our agent) Sandra were fraudulent or that the business transactions were illegal in any shape or form," Moore said in the statement. "I even ran the routing number on one of the checks she issued us and it returned to Bank of America. As far as I knew, the transactions for the vehicles were legitimate."

Aubin, who has ties to Clifton Park, is being held at Albany County jail without bail. He is charged with two counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument, both felonies.

His case is pending in Albany County Court.

blyons@timesunion.com • 518-454-5547 • @brendan_lyonstu