Contribute to delinquimcy;join the Police!

[Matthew X]

Cops Use Underage Girl in Another Porno Sting
If it worked in Cincinnati against Larry Flynt, Tallahassee cops figured it 
would work in Florida- and it did. Using a 17 year-old girl as jail bait 
deputies raided four Tallahassee sex stores Wednesday, charging five people 
with peddling porn to a minor.

The arrests came after a 17-year-old girl posed as a customer and was able 
to buy adult videos at Rick's Toy Box on North Monroe Street, Greg's Video 
on West Tharpe Street, X-Mart Adult Superstore on West Tennessee Street and 
Intimate Encounters on Crawfordville Road, according to detectives.

Store owners called the undercover sweep "entrapment" and criticized 
deputies for using a 17-year-old to buy adult sex products. Sheriff Larry 
Campbell, once part of a campaign [some say a witch hunt] to drive adult 
stores out of Leon County in the early '90's, said he's just trying to make 
sure stores that sell dirty movies run a clean business. The sting was 
prompted by complaints, including a letter-writing campaign, questioning 
sales practices at the stores, according to police.

Detectives wired the teen-age girl - a high school senior who's frequently 
paid to do undercover alcohol buys - and sent her to shop at eight 
Tallahassee stores. They gave her marked cash, but told her to spend 
lightly, the girl said, asking that her name not be used. It was her first 
time in a sex shop, but "you just have to be mature about it," she said.

She told store employees that she was shopping for her boyfriend, who was 
too embarrassed to come inside. Since the sting was operating on a budget, 
she avoided the expensive movies and shopped the $9.95 racks, she said. In 
each store, she picked out one movie, browsed the lingerie sections briefly 
so she didn't arouse suspicions and then approached the check-out counters, 
the teen said. Among the titles she selected: "Over my Knee, Part II" and 
"The XXX Files."

Clerks at four of the shops, including Rick's on West Tennessee Street, 
checked her ID and ordered her out. The others paid no attention as they 
sold to her - except for Bradley Harvey, owner of Intimate Emporium, who 
helped her pick out a video, the girl claims. "He gave me his card and he 
was like, 'Anytime you need anything, I've got catalogs,'" she said. Harvey 
and clerks from three other stores were charged with selling obscene 
material to a minor, a third-degree felony. Each was released from the Leon 
County Jail after posting $2,500 bail.

Two of those arrested were at Rick's Toy Box. One of them was a veteran 
employee and should have known to check the girl's ID - but the other was 
simply there for a job interview and had no idea what was going on, 
according to Robin Smith, regional manager. Smith said the store likely 
will help with an attorney and said she was exploring other legal responses 
to the arrests. According to Smith, vice detectives entrapped her workers 
by sending in a "dolled-up" teen-ager who looked much older than she was. 
Worse, they sent the girl into adult video stores, where she would have 
seen things she never should have, she said.

"They should look at what they did because they contributed to the 
delinquency of a minor by sending her into the store," Smith said. "They 
should look at what they did instead of just pointing the finger at us." 
Campbell has predicted more arrests.