Source: KXLY TV
SPOKANE -- Several days before he met a state lawmaker at his downtown hotel room which led to claims of cross-dressing, solicitation and blackmail, Cody Castagna appeared in a Kootenai County, Idaho courtroom where he pled guilty to stealing a woman's gambling winnings from the Coeur d'Alene Casino in March.

Castagna, 26, pled guilty to a charge of petty theft stemming from an incident at the Coeur d'Alene Casino in Worley, Idaho in March. Castagna stole a woman's $1,700 in gambling winnings from her and then was seen on casino surveillance video cashing out her winnings for himself.

Originally facing a grand theft charge, Castagna agreed to a plea bargain that reduced the charge to petty theft in exchange for his guilty plea. He has yet to be sentenced in the case.

In addition to his arrest and guilty plea on the casino theft charge in Kootenai County, Castagna has been arrested numerous times in Spokane and King County for assault, theft, burglary and malicious mischief as a juvenile. In 2001 he pled guilty to a forgery charge as an adult.

Spokane County deputy prosecutor Larry Steinmetz says it will take weeks to decide whether to charge Castagna for extortion for threatening to "out" state Representative Richard Curtis of La Center. Castagna says he agreed to have sex last week with Curtis in his Davenport Tower hotel room for $1,000.