A 29-count indictment obscenity indictment for selling "obscene devices" has been handed down by a grand jury against the Lion's Den Adult Superstore here.
Each count charges the store with "knowingly, recklessly, and unlawfully engaging in promoting obscenity," listed as a class-A misdemeanor on first offense under Kansas law, and each count is good for up to a $2,500 fine and up to a year in jail.
That could mean 29 years behind bars and up to $72,500 in fines for the Ohio-based adult superstore, according to a published report.
The charged cover time from October 28, 2003 through this writing, during which the Lion's Den sold what appear to have been adult novelties and aids. Field manager Sandi Summers told an Abilene newspaper she was instructed not to comment on the case as of April 1.
But she did tell the Abilene Reflector-Chronicle that the Lion's Den has faced similar court proceedings in the past and none of its 29 other stores was ever closed before due to court decisions.
The case was apparently instigated by a petition from Citizens for Strengthening Community Values, a group formed shortly after the Lion's Den opened and fighting the store since. Group spokesman Philip Cosby told the Reflector they were pleased about the indictments.
"It's not a big surprise to us," he told the paper. "When fifteen average people get together and look at the evidence in this courtroom and are able to bring back 29 counts of obscenity, that speaks very loudly for community standards."
Cosby also admitted his group and the First Christian Church in Abilene targeted the Lion's Den in an effort "designed to be confrontational and controversial in order to get people's attention and get them talking…This community is really stepping up to the plate and realizing how important this is to our future."
