A federal judge sentenced a Florida man on Dec. 2 to five years in prison for conspiring to distribute obscene videotapes, according to a published report.
Sanford Wasserman, 65, maintained his innocence and told the judge that he resented being made a “poster child” for a Bush administration “crusade” against pornography, the Associated Press reported.
Wasserman pleaded guilty earlier this year under an agreement that allows him some appeal rights. He later tried to withdraw the plea but was turned down by the judge, according to the story.
Prosecutors said Wasserman conspired with Thomas Lambert of Montana to distribute obscene videos. In court records, prosecutors characterized some of the tapes, which were available through mail-order catalogues, as depicting bestiality and violent sex, the story said.
Lambert pleaded guilty and was sentenced in June to two-and-a-half years in prison, AP reported.
U.S. Attorney Bill Mercer called Wasserman the “king pin” in a distribution business and argued for a longer sentence than Lambert’s to act as a deterrent. He said Wasserman’s five-year sentence may be one of the stiffest imposed in a recent obscenity case, according to AP.
Wasserman assailed his attorney at the Dec. 2 hearing as ineffective, and the judge said he would appoint a new attorney to preserve Wasserman’s right to appeal, the report said.
