A Virginia man who was charged with performing a sex act in St. Patrick’s Cathedral died last week, his lawyer said yesterday.

The death of Brian Florence, 38, was disclosed on the same day he and girlfriend Loretta Lynn Harper were expected to plead guilty to disorderly conduct charges stemming from the Aug. 16, 2002 sex stunt that was broadcast live on radio on the now-canceled “Opie and Anthony Show.”

“Mr. Florence died Thursday of heart failure,” said the couple’s lawyer, Maranda Fritz. “It was very sudden.”

She said Harper is “in a state of shock.” Her case was adjourned until Nov. 6.

The third defendant in the case, “Opie and Anthony” employee Paul Mercurio, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct earlier in the day, and was sentenced to seven days of community service.

He insisted that Florence and Harper, whom he led around the city and whose sexual exploits he phoned in as part of the show’s public sex contest, only engaged in “simulated sex” at the church.

“I brought [them] into St. Patrick’s Cathedral so that they could engage in the conduct I would broadcast over the air, via cellular telephone … I then proceeded to broadcast their simulated actions ‘live’ over the air, despite the fact that there were parishioners present in the cathedral,” Mercurio told Judge Barbara Jaffe.

“Since the show, I realized how inappropriate these actions were, I have apologized personally to monsignors at St. Patrick’s Cathedral and apologize publicly.”

His “public” apology fell short of apologizing in public. He refused to speak to reporters afterwards, and changed direction several times in a bid to evade photographers and TV cameras, finally taking off like a bat out of hell across a nearby park.

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