A prosecutor agreed to ask for a $750 dollar fine for Giovanni Sambucci after the adult retailer agreed to plea guilty to a charge of possession of obscene material for the purpose of distribution.
According to the Calgary Sun, jurors expressed relief at not having to watch the videos, which included some bestiality tapes, Justice Scott Brooker, who presided over the case, was concerned that the penalty was not enough.
"What concerns me is how a fine of $750 deters anyone, including your client," Brooker told defence lawyer Alain Hepner, after hearing sentencing submissions.
When Sambucci was arrested in July of last year, he was originally charged with two counts of distributing obscene material and two charges of possession of obscene material. Last year police raided Sambucci's home and his business Midnight Blue Video, formerly known as Classic XXX Video, and confiscated more than 500 pornographic tapes, some of which were of vintage bestiality, believed to be from the 1970s.
An investigation of Sambucci began after a Calgary motel clerk was busted for producing child pornography in 2001. Douglas Beal, the clerk, sold five of his videos to two adult video stores, including Sambucci's.
The girl in the videos was only 11-years old. In October of 1999, Beal showed Sambucci samples of his work in an attempt to sell the videos. Sambucci reportedly asked if the female in the video had signed a model's release, but later purchased four movies totaling $340 without seeing any waiver.
Beal also sold a fifth tape to a Troy Winchester at a Trans Canada video store for $40 and some free rentals.
Beal was sentenced last year to four years and three months in prison for sexual interference and making and selling child pornography.
Sambucci will be sentenced today.
