Ash Armand, best known for featuring in Showtime's controversial reality series "Gigolos," was arrested for murder in Las Vegas. According to the police, Armand allegedly beat his girlfriend to death on Thursday morning.
Armand, whose real name is Akshaya Kubiak, was allegedly under the influence of drugs at the time of the alleged murder, police say.
Armand's GF Found Dead with Signs of Trauma
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a press release that officers responded to a call of an unresponsive woman to the 8400 block of Blackstone Ridge Court at approximately 10.30 a.m. on Thursday and found the woman, described as in her 30s, dead at the residence with evidence of trauma.
Officers also found Kubiak at the scene of the crime and he was taken into custody. Police said that the 38-year-old was the one who called 911. Over the course of the investigation, detectives learned that Kubiak and the deceased woman were in a relationship and believe the reality star beat her to death under the influence of narcotics.
Kubiak is now being held without bail at the Clark County Detention Center. The victim's identity is not yet known and details will be released once the next of kin has been notified. The cause and manner of the woman's death will be determined after an autopsy is conducted by the Clark County Medical Examiner's Office.
Other 'Gigolos' Arrests
Kubiak used Armand as a stage name on "Gigolos" and was described as a "raven-haired hunk" when he appeared in Season 3 of the reality series. He isn't the first male escort from the show to have been arrested for assaulting his partner.
In 2012, Jimmy Clabots was arrested for felony domestic violence after a verbal altercation with his girlfriend turned physical. Another escort who appeared on the show, Steven Gantt, was also pulled over for a speeding violation that year and arrested after cops found an active arrest warrant against him for open and gross lewdness
Controversial TV Show
"Gigolos" revolved around male escorts in Las Vegas and ran for six seasons until May 2016. The show's credibility came into question after a woman told The Daily Beast in 2011 that her appearance on the series was scripted. She was an actress who was hired by one of the show's producers.
"They found me through a website. They wanted to know what skills I had. Then they created a scenario where I would need an escort, and they hired me," the woman said, adding that the sex scenes were simulated.
Garren James, who managed the male escorts seen in the series, confirmed to Salon that they paid women for their appearances if they did not pay the escorts. He said they were paid a "small sum" for "their time."
Prostitution is illegal in Nevada, outside of legalized brothels. Still, Las Vegas police spokesman Marcus Martin told the Las Vegas Review-Journal they could not arrest anyone on the show because transactions were taking place without officers present. "They can play the line as loose as they want to, semantically, but they're still violating the law," Martin said in 2011.
