KANSAS CITY, KS — It doesn’t take much to get some people riled up these days, as three Jackson County businesses have learned after being handed obscenity indictments by the local District Court. According to the Kansas City Star, not only adult business Priscilla’s in Olathe has been popped for possessing and planning to sell an adult DVD depicting “teens and various obscene sex toys,” but two other, more mainstream, companies are sharing the misdemeanor pain.
Although convened in July for the first time since 1986 in order to investigate accusations of obscenity, the three indictments are the first that the grand jury has handed down; focusing instead on other issues, including murder, burglary, mortgage fraud, and drunk driving, prior to these rulings.
Accompanying Priscilla’s in the list are Hollywood at Home in Overland Park, which was determined to have “unlawfully and knowingly or recklessly” planned to sell four DVDs deemed to be obscene. Perhaps most surprising, though, is the addition of Spirit Halloween, also in Overland Park. The evil done by this company relates to adult costumes displayed in the store where minors were able to see them.
Brian Burgess, a representative for Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline expects that summonses will likely be issued shortly, with arraignments being set within the next week or two.
The National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families is responsible for calling the grand jury into action after launching a petition drive insisting that it investigate specific businesses. Similar efforts have resulted in the creation of grand juries hungry to sniff out obscenity in Wyandotte, Clay, and Platte counties, as well.
It is currently unknown whether the jury will further expand its initial investigation of a few adult retail outlets, although it has the right to do so without making an announcement to that affect. “The grand jurors have a lot of autonomy in how they proceed,” Burgess explains.
Investigations launched in Wyandotte County led to misdemeanor obscenity charges against two businesses, while the targeted business in Platte County removed the merchandise drawing fire.
