COLUMN

Tom Jackson: Only Briefly Master Of His Domain

By TOM JACKSON

Published: Jul 15, 2007

Just when you thought Pasco County might escape its reputation as Jerry Springer's green room, the place where lunatics, malcontents and the depraved wait for their moment in front of the camera, along comes Andrew Michael Kobak.

Once again, Pasco's claim as the hub of all things sordid, all things bizarre and all things icky is safe. The self-proclaimed Master Drew saw to that, arrest documents say, not only by drafting a 10-page "slave contract," but advertising it and, most astonishing of all, identifying and signing a willing participant.

Kobak's association with Alyssandra Cardillo, a troubled (is that redundant?) 19-year-old who took a taxi from Silver Springs to his house near Port Richey, was blessedly brief, lasting only a handful of days before sheriff's deputies broke up the flagitious little household.

From his brief fling in the "master" profession, the 34-year-old Kobak earned charges plain-spoken people associate with pimping: maintaining a place for and deriving proceeds from prostitution. That's because, investigators say, Kobak used his absolute control over Cardillo to proffer sexual services to visitors, at $60 a pop, so to speak.

This is precisely the sort of tale that winds up on wire services and then in the news briefs sections of newspapers, news Web sites, blogs, talk radio and wherever else folks gather to blather over human train wrecks.

Home To Kumquats And Kooks

All that remains is the usual "sure am glad real crime has been solved" and "don't cops have anything better to do" public clucking that tends to accompany police action where the activities of consenting adults are concerned. Never mind that in this instance a solid case could be made that, attitudinally, there were no adults involved.

Ah, but isn't that what makes the world go 'round?

All of which is to say, as word spreads about the master and his willing sex slave, our fair region, home to kumquats and cattle, citrus and spectacular sunsets, graceful, rolling golf courses and a thriving growth industry, will be held up as one of those anything-goes Florida backwaters, where the morals are as loose as the clothing, and IQs rarely exceed the relative humidity.

This is not complaining, exactly. Jerry Springer is not the only one in media who relies on humans harking to their lesser angels to fill time and/or space. Besides, the legal allegations against him notwithstanding, Kobak stands as a cautionary maxim, reminding us that for every predator, somewhere there lurks willing prey.

Awaiting The Other Shoe(s)

In Cardillo's defense, authorities say they regard her more as a victim than co-conspirator. Her participation may have been precipitated by bipolar disorder, for which she is medicated, and her claim of being sexually abused at 15.

But sublimation to male authority is not an infrequent theme of popular culture, including the "Bachelor" series of so-called reality television, where dozens of otherwise gorgeous, successful and confident women vie for the contrived affections of a single mannequin-like man.

Given this atmosphere - a harem scrubbed and sprayed and presented to a national audience as entertainment - only those living without electricity would be surprised to learn that someone among us took a common male fantasy and put it into action.

The shock to the rest would be to learn that Master Drew is the only one.

Tom Jackson can be reached at (813) 948-4219.