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DOJ Indicts Husband-Wife for Operating Rape Web Site: Obscenity Prosecution Bar Remains Too High 6/19/2003
By Jan LaRue, Chief Counsel The U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Jane Boyle, announced the unsealing of a three-count federal indictment against a former Dallas Police Officer Garry Layne Ragsdale, 34, and his wife, Tamara Michelle Ragsdale, 32, residents of Fort Worth, Texas.
The indictment, returned in late March, charges each defendant with one count of conspiracy to mail obscene material, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371, two counts of mailing obscene material and aiding and abetting, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1461 and 2.
The indictment charges that from April 1998 to July 1998, the Ragsdales conspired together, and with others, to sell and distribute obscene videotapes depicting rape scenes through the Internet and the United States mail. The indictment alleges that the Ragsdales owned, managed and maintained a Web site called "geschlecht.com." The web page was named "The Rape Video Store," where the Ragsdales offered obscene videotapes depicting rape scenes, which they categorized on the Web site as the "Real Rape Video Series" and the "Brutally Raped Video Series."
The Ragsdales posted graphically obscene descriptions of the videotapes on their Web site. They duplicated and mailed the tapes from their home after customers paid for the videos with a credit card. Visa, MasterCard, DiscoverCard, are you listening? Corporations Respond to CWA and AT&T Getting the Porn Ring Out of Its Collar (with Visa update).
If convicted on all counts, however, the Ragsdales each face up to 20 years imprisonment and a $750,000 fine. A trial is set for July 14, 2003, before Sidney A. Fitzwater, U.S. District Court Judge.
The FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Dallas Police Department Vice Squad handled the investigation. The DOJ's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section will assist the U.S. Attorney's office with the prosecution.
Based on information available to CWA, we have composed a list of the DOJ investigations, prosecutions and convictions for obscenity from 2001 to date:
Cases that began as obscenity investigations:
1. U.S. v. Ragsdale, June 18, 2003, Northern District of Texas: A grand jury indictment was unsealed that includes one count of conspiracy to mail obscene material and two counts of selling and distributing obscene video tapes depicting rape scenes through the Internet and the U.S. mail. "The web page was named 'The Rape Video Store,'" with tapes titled "Real Rape Video Series" and the "Brutally Raped Video Series."
2. "Extreme Associates," April 9, 2003: Adult Video News reported that federal agents and LAPD officers served federal search warrants from the western district of Pennsylvania at the "Extreme Associates" offices in North Hollywood, Calif., seizing records, model releases and identification and three copies each of five deviant/fetish videos: "Extreme Teen 24," "Cocktails 2," "A** Clowns 3," "1001 Ways to Eat My J***," and "Forced Entry." Robert Zacari, owner of Extreme commented on the investigation, "Mind you, this business has not seen a major federal obscenity investigation in over 10 years."
3. U.S. v. Corbett, April 9, 2003, West Virginia: According to the indictment, the Corbett's Web site offered for sale and delivery, via the U.S. mail, a total of 53 video tapes and DVDs, 40 minutes to two hours in length, depicting graphic and sexually explicit scenes of defecation and urination.
4. U.S. v. Gravenhorst, March 25, 2003, New Hampshire: Gravenhorst was convicted of six counts of enticing a minor to have sex, four counts of sending obscene material over the Internet to a minor, and one count of using a computer service to send obscene material across state lines. The case stemmed from a complaint from a 16-year-old girl who told police she was sexually assaulted by a man she met online.
5. U.S. v. Farris and EMI Enterprises, Nov. 7, 2002, Eastern District of Kentucky: Gary Farris and EMI Enterprises were charged with using the U.S. mail to deliver a videotape entitled #90 Extreme Underground, which "depicts the physical and sexual abuse and mutilation of several women." The complaint alleged that Farris operated a Web site named "taboomovies.net." He pled guilty December 2, 2002.
6. U. S. v. Funderburk, Eastern District of Virginia, 2002: "Funderburk pled guilty to a charge of distributing an obscene video, which depicted bondage and rape."
7. U.S. v. King/Wasserman, 2001, Texas: This case began as a result of a federal magistrate receiving porn spam via email, which the magistrate referred to the U.S. Attorney's office.
Each of these cases involves only the most deviant, extreme fetish-type material including excretory and rape porn. As long as obscenity enforcement bar remains this high, it will have no impact on the scores of major companies offering "mainstream" hard-core porn.
Other cases which began as a child pornography/sexual exploitation investigation but included or resulted in an obscenity charge:
1. U.S. v. Huggins, April 3, 2003, East St. Louis, Illinois: David B. Huggins, 42, faced up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to downloading child pornography off the Internet on his home computer. Instead, because of an ex-FBI agent's misleading statements on a search warrant, Huggins was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of knowingly using a computer service to transport obscene material in interstate commerce.
2. U.S. v. Klazura, February 2003, District of Kansas: This case began in March 2002 as a child pornography prosecution. After Klazura's lawyer accused the government of trapping Klazura into a criminal action, the U.S. attorney offered a plea for the lesser obscenity charges, stemming from the two pictures of nude adult women found on his home computer. Klazura pled guilty to obscenity and was sentenced in February 2003.
3. U.S. v. Cauble, Oct. 9, 2002, Kokomo, Indiana: This case began as a child pornography investigation. A search of Cauble's computer revealed adult obscenity, including bestiality, as well as child porn. The indictment charged that Cauble used his computer to receive and possess child pornography (13 counts) and to receive obscene material (four counts). There is no mention of any investigation or indictment of the pornography Web site where the obscene material was accessed.
4. U.S. v. Vetter, July 5, 2002, Columbia, South Carolina: This case began as a child pornography investigation. Neither the indictment nor the conviction involved any child pornography or obscene pornography. United States Attorney J. Strom Thurmond, Jr., announced in a press release that Christine A. Vetter, 21, of Central, South Carolina, pled guilty today in federal court in Anderson, South Carolina, to mailing indecent and filthy things and substances, including "soiled panties, used feminine hygiene products, used condoms and sex aids, a violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 1461.
Fraud charges brought against "adult" Web site operators but no obscenity charge:
U.S. v. Martino, March 18, 2003, Eastern district of New York: The U.S. Attorney announced the indictment of three persons and five companies for "bilk[ing] consumers out of $230 million in bogus 'free tours' of adult entertainment websites." Defendant Richard Martino (an alleged member of the Gambino organized crime family), Norman Chanes and Bruce Chew, along with the five companies, were "charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, conspiracy to commit credit card fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of up to $230 million in assets, and specifically seeks forfeiture of the defendants' multimillion dollar luxury homes in New York and California as substitute assets." According to the DOJ press release, "the defendants tricked users into providing credit or debit card information, purportedly as proof of age, and promised that the card would 'NOT BE BILLED.'"
The children of America are a couple of mouse clicks away from viewing thousands of free hard-core teaser images offered on virtually every porn Web site. The operators of these sites are domestic terrorists fueled by greed and seeking to create the next generation of porn addicts-and our children and grandchildren are their targets.
DOJ: We understand that you're working hard to protect us from terrorists and we appreciate it. However, if Martha Stewart is worth your time and resources, we expect to see these domestic terrorists cuffed and doing the "perp walk" real soon.
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