Nassau County authorities arrested four people and fined a dozen Long Island convenience stores for improperly displaying adult materials and selling them to minors, officials said Wednesday.
According to a recent report by Newsday, residents' complaints led to a full fledged investigation into more than a dozen stores by police officers and the Nassau County Office of Consumer Affairs.
Police imposed fines of more than $9,000 on business owners in five Long Island towns. According to county law, pornographic items should be clearly marked as adult material and hidden from the view of minors.
"There will be zero tolerance for convenience stores that sell so-called 'adult material' to the children of Nassau County," said consumer affairs commissioner Roger C. Bogsted. "This is a very important issue, and we will not allow unscrupulous store owners to place our kids in jeopardy."
The investigation revealed that stores were selling adult material to children as young as 15 and stocking adult magazines in highly traveled areas within the stores, Newsday reported.
"Now that we see it is clearly a problem," added Bogsted, "we are going to continue our investigation in other areas."
