A judge has ordered an adult video store to close for a year for violating Pennsylvania law banning secluded viewing of adult materials.
Judge John Fedora of the Jefferson County Court of Common Pleas ruled that Adult Super Center violated state statute by providing booths that does not allow those outside of it to view its interior as required by law, according to The Derrick and News-Herald in Oil City, Pa.
Barry Covert, an attorney for the store vowed that the business would reopen in a year.
The store was said to have 12 private, dimly-lit booths which were separated by walls and swinging doors that could be locked from the inside, in apparent violation of state law.
Charges were brought against the store owners after Brookville police inspected the business on March 2 and collected various biological specimens which were later identified to be seminal fluid in a crime lab. The store has been closed since then.
Covert told the newspaper that business owners had removed the doors and improved the lighting in the booths and that the store should be allowed to remain open.
But prosecutors said that because seminal fluid was found in the store, it meant that the very thing the law was supposed to prevent was taking place, thus they urged a stiff penalty against the store’s owner.
“Our position was we wanted the court to exercise its discretion under law and to close the store for one year,” said District Attorney Jeffrey D. Burkett.
Under the ruling, the store must remain closed for a year and no business activity is allowed to take place at the location during that time.
Covert added that the store owners have no plans to sell the property.
