Megan Knickerbocker's ex boyfriend - pit bull breeder

From the OC Register -

(Tammy is from season two and her daughter Megan whose dad was Lou Knickerbocker introduced us in Season two to her boyfriend Roman. Roman lives in the 909 and breeds very large but gentle pit bulls. As of season three we learn that Megan and Roman are no longer together and Roman is engaged and soon to be a baby daddy. Megan just finds it super that they all still get along and she and Roman are still friends. (We've all been there - she will wake up one day))

Roman Vaughn, 36, debuted in last week's episode of "The Real Housewives of Orange County" as the boyfriend of Tammy's 20-year-old daughter, Megan. I think I know a breakout star when I see one, as does a certain state appellate justice who reviewed Season 2's first two episodes with me. Roman's shaved head, tatted body and 909 area code made him a tougher, real-life version of the troubled I.E. pantywaist Ryan in "The O.C." Then there's Roman's solid-gold occupation – pit bull breeder.

I didn't sleep too well the night before my visit to Iron Cross Kennels. What to wear? I went with the cargo pants but dumped the backwards ball cap. I didn't want to appear to be trying too hard.

Erika and I set out to Menifee in her new Accord, which is at home on the freeway and the winding, bucolic, meth-shack-lined Bundy Canyon Road, but completely out of its element on the rutted dirt track up the hill to Roman's place. We pull up to the chain-link fence surrounding the five-acre compound and are instantly greeted by, and I say this with all respect, the head bitch – a massive she-pit that comes bounding across the arid landscape, her sagging teat-sack practically leaving its own track in the dirt. Meet Iron Maiden.

Roman assures us it's OK to leave the car, even though every instinct tells me I'd be safer cliff diving. Iron Maiden, modestly accessorized in a motorcycle-chain collar, just sniffs us politely. She weighs 93 pounds. "I like to keep 'em lean," Roman says.

Lean, but not small. As Roman explains, he specializes in monster pits. Whereas the U.K.C. pit standard calls for males to max out at 60 pounds, a 60-pounder would be a runt at Iron Cross. We sit on a picnic table and Roman brings out Disciple. He's a lovely blue-and-white beast, 122 pounds, with a cranial circumference of 27¼ inches.

"Aw, you're such a good, good boy," I coo, my fingers stroking his chin, my testicles retracting up into my thorax. Disciple is Roman's biggest pit but Disciple's brother, Azul, who lives in Colton, weighs 153. Roman brings out another male, Iron Tyson, and he's just as docile, although Roman acknowledges he can be a handful because he bought him out of the Pennysaver and wasn't able to socialize him early.

"See, he's not mean, is he?" Roman says as I pet Tyson. I reply: "No, but then I'm not trying to rip off your stereo."

Like every pit-bull aficionado I've met, Roman says pits are no more aggressive than other dogs. Bad owners are the problem. But your Web site's rap song, I point out, has some pretty violent lyrics describing your dogs. He says the song was "a gift" from a friend, that's all. He says he screens buyers before he sells them one of his dogs, which go for up to $3,000. I ask him for some specific reasons he's refused to sell to people and he stops me short.

"I thought this was about me. You're asking a lot of questions about the dogs."

Roman grew up on the fringes of the desert east of San Diego. Shortly after high school he got into a business that remains his main source of income – he owns a dental lab that makes retainers. (In fact, the pit bull money just pays for the upkeep of the dogs, he says.) Not exactly the stereotype.

Another stereotype-buster: A tour of his compound reveals an immaculate operation. And this wasn't spiffed up because we were coming. Long-term investment is evident. The kennels house puppies and adults that seem healthy and active. They are spacious, clean and well built of concrete and chain link. His out buildings are new construction and brightly painted to resemble miniature barns. He's planted trees to complement those already on the site. In short, while his place isn't as opulent, it's as well-kept as any horse property in Coto.

Which brings us to Megan. The age and income differences are issues. "Being from different sides of the tracks," he calls it. But "for a rich kid, she has a really great work ethic." Megan, in fact, helped Roman put together a 2007 Iron Cross Kennel calendar featuring her, sister Lindsey, fellow "Housewives" teen Kara Keough (Miss March and Miss June) and others posing with dogs and dirt bikes. A couple of models are splattered in fake (I think) blood.

"I'm not a salesman," Roman says, explaining why most of the 5,000 calendars are still in boxes. He's giving them away now, so I take a few, and ask him to autograph one.