N.J. Mayor Resigns Amid Male Prostitution Scandal

A screen grab of the rentboy's website, www.mayormyers.webs.com, before the site was rendered unavailable. N.J. mayor Chris Myers, who resigned Dec. 5, 2011, is allegedly shown. (Photo credit: MayorMyers.com)

The mayor of Medford, N.J., Chris Myers, has resigned following months of allegations that the married father had hired a male prostitute while on a trip to California in October 2010.

The scandal began when the apparently disgruntled prostitute posted a picture of a man that looked like Republican Mayor Chris Myers lying on a bed, wearing only blue Calvin Klein briefs.  The man who claimed to be the male escort alleged that Myers, 46, had paid him $500 for the encounter, but did not fulfill promises he made to give the man gifts and a car.

The website created by the alleged male prostitute was taken down at the end of October, but a screen shot of the site shows the original post titled, “NJ Medford Mayor Christopher Myers Hired Me From Rentboy.com…All I Got Were Lies & Broken Promises!!!”

In an interview with New Jersey’s Courier-Post in October, Myers refused to comment on the claims but did not deny them. But at a council meeting in November, he denied the allegations and called the Internet “a murky, anonymous place.”

Neither Myers nor other members of the Medford Township Council responded to requests for comment on Tuesday.

Myers resigned Monday through a letter to the town’s clerk and manager, posted in full on ABC News’ Philadelphia affiliate WPVI. Medford Township is about 20 miles east of Philadelphia.

Seven of the letter’s eight paragraphs are dedicated to Myers’ “many achievements during my tenure.” He wrote about preserving thousands of acres of farmland, an energy cost reduction program and his efforts during flooding that severely damaged the town in 2004 and 2007.

“At this time, I feel it’s time to pass the baton, and allow others to take the reins and lead our town forward,” he wrote at the end of the letter. “My work commitments will not allow me to devote the time that is needed in the months ahead. That is why, today, I am resigning from the Medford Township Council, effective immediately.”

Medford Councilman Bob Martin was selected to assume the vacant mayor’s seat.

“It’s just sad. The whole thing has been horrible for him, his family and for Medford township. We really don’t even know if it’s true, because it was an anonymous person that did this stuff on the Internet,” Martin told ABCNews.com. “We got a lot of bad publicity from it, but I believe he did the right thing. I really believe that this is for his own good, for his family’s good and for the good of the Township.”