LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles man was indicted on federal obscenity charges Tuesday for offenses related to his Internet-based adult video business, including violation of the 2257 record-keeping law.
Ira Isaacs, 56, has been charged with four counts of selling and distributing "obscene" DVDs via the internet, two counts of using a "common carrier" to distribute "obscene" DVDs, and two counts of failing to label sexually explicit DVDs in accordance with 2257 regulations. Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
A federal grand jury handed down the indictment based on an investigation conducted by the FBI's Adult Obscenity Squad and agents from the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office with the assistance of the LAPD.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles described the allegedly "obscene" movies as "far beyond the mainstream of adult videos."
Isaacs' attorney Roger Jon Diamond told the Associated Press that his client has been unfairly targeted, and that no underage performers appear in the videos under investigation.
"There might have been an inadvertent foul-up with respect to labeling," Diamond said. "They're all adults."
Diamond acknowledged the videos in question as extreme,. A web search for Stolen Car Films turns up several links discussing Japanese scat videos; the website StolenCarFilms.com does not publicly display titles or images.
"There's no question the materials are disgusting to most people," Diamond said. "The question is whether or not a free society should tolerate consenting adults seeing what they want to see no matter how disgusting the content may be."
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Kenneth Whitted of the Justice Department's Obscenity Prosecution Task Force and Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig H. Missakian of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. In addition to the criminal charges against Isaacs, the indictment seeks forfeiture of the "obscene" matter and all revenues derived from it.
The court will issue a summons for Isaacs to appear in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles for arraignment in August.
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