Richmond, Indiana- Richmond’s new adult entertainment ordinance has landed the city in federal court.

A suit has been filed on behalf of M.F. Enterprises, Inc., doing business as Exotic Fantasies of Richmond at 12 S. 11th St., asking that the ordinance be declared unconstitutional.

The action was filed Friday in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

Richmond city attorney Walt Chidester said he had heard that a suit had been filed late Friday, but didn’t see a copy of the complaint until it was supplied to him Monday afternoon by the Palladium-Item.

“I’ll have to study it in more detail before I can make a comment,” Chidester said. “It’s not unusual for adult bookstores to have their attorneys file these kind of suits.”

Mayor Sally Hutton pictured] said she heard rumors of the suit on Sunday and hasn’t had a chance to consult with Chidester.

The office of the Indianapolis firm that filed the suit was closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

A call to Exotic Fantasies failed to turn up an address or a spokesperson for M.F. Enterprises. It is not clear from the complaint where M.F. Enterprises is located.

The suit also asks for an injunction to prevent the city from filing and for “reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred” in filing the suit.

Richmond Common Council approved the ordinance Nov. 7, 2006. It requires adult entertainment businesses to pay a $500 annual permit fee and makes them susceptible to unannounced inspections by city officials.

Any new adult entertainment businesses will have to be at least 1,000 feet from any school or church, but the existing businesses — such as Exotic Fantasies which has been in business here for 25 years, according to the complaint — were “grandfathered in” at their present locations.

They are subject to the other portions of the ordinance, including certain internal layout specifications.

Existing businesses were given 60 days to comply.