“Big Jim” posts on Netpond: Ok, first, I am not really able to comment on the facts of the case only to say that Ray Guhn’s legal team will be fighting these charges aggressively as long as the money holds out. Ray has retained the legal team of Weston, Garrou, DeWitt & Walters.
The well known and respected Larry Walters plans to spearhead a vigorous 1st amendment defense as you can imagine. Now please carefully read this next part. The predicate on which Ray Guhn and associates are charged can seriously impact how YOU as webmasters, producers, hosting companies, affiliates, and pay site owners will be permitted, or not permitted, to conduct your business in the future. The cops are claiming that paying people to perform sexually on camera is prostitution and therefore illegal. If the prosecution wins the Ray Guhn case in Florida it will have the chilling effect of setting precedent of illegalizing porn production throughout Florida which in turn will eagerly be used by other states anxious to squelch free expression to justify filing suits or applying pressure against webmasters, producers, hosters, affiliates and site owners who engage in showing ‘paid performers engaging in sex while being photographed or videotaped or on webcam’.
1) Why the charge of Racketeering? As mentioned, the cops assert that compensating people who perform in, or produce, adult sexual content is prostitution and that any parties earning an income derived from activity based on prostitution is Racketeering (which carries up to 30 years in jail). The 2nd predicate they are using is an Obscenity charge, ie: that COHF content is stronger content than Pensacola community standards allow, even though you can walk into dozens of stores in Pensacola and purchase many different porn mags showing detailed glossy images of group sex, anal sex, triple penetration, bondage sex, dildo sex, lesbian strap on sex, oral sex, cum swapping and oral/facial cumshots. But we all know how vague the obscenity law is, depending on your locale a girl posing nude could be considered obscene by a conservative jury.
2) Don’t believe everything you read in the papers, the guns they seized at Ray’s home were all legally owned along with a weapons permit and the “drugs” were only one medication type legally prescribed by licensed physicians. But it made for a sensational byline in the article.
3) It’s Election year here. So the stronger the headlines, the better, as far as the guys running for reelection are concerned.
I really can’t comment more on the case but after reading some of the posts when this story broke on GFY and other boards I wanted to clear up a few confused posters who poked fun at this situation without understanding how THIS CASE is the landmark case that many in the adult industry have been fearing for years. Grave consequences will occur first in Florida and next industry wide if the prosecution prevails in reclassifying porn performers and actors… as prostitutes. If performers are reclassified as prostitutes, smart money says the law will next move to classify people like YOU who webmaster, produce, host, manage, or resell that ‘illegal’ content as criminals and racketeers. (remember, racketeering carries up to 30 years in jail!).
Attorney Larry Walters has set up a legal defense fund for this fight. I am asking everyone to donate to this fund, not just to help defend Ray and myself, but also to preserve our adult internet industry as we currently know it. This case is already creating expenditures in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and honestly guys we need industry financial help from our friends, associates, fellow businessmen and industry moguls to win this battle… for all of us. Please donate directly to Larry Walter’s firm at: www.RayGuhnDefenseFund.com NONE of the donations go to Ray, myself or COHF.
I can only hope that the generosity (and sense of self preservation) of our industry will shine in this moment of darkness and contributions will flow in to assist defending against these charges.
This is much more than just another case against a few guys in Florida, but rather it is a veiled legal attempt to begin the process of outlawing all porn production not only in Florida, but eventually reaching across the country.
On a personal note I wish to thank the industry for their support and emails and phone calls and im’s about this situation. I am truly grateful of everyone’s concern. I now understand what it means to be at the bottom of the barrel as I have lost everything, my job, my income and for the few that knew I had a daughter as of now the state has ended my rights to see her, so again if you don’t think this case is important for those of you who have children, please imagine not being able to see them again simply because you operated or worked for an adult business. If you think for one second it can’t happen to you as I did, WELL IT CAN! I am not sure if I will stay in the adult industry after all this is over. I have to consider the options and what I might have to do to regain custody of my daughter. I would like to talk to anyone that might need a general manager type, employee or sales rep to weigh my options. I will consider all offers as I have stated before I have no income and my savings is almost gone.
I will respond as I can to the replies of this thread I ask that it be bumped quite regularly if possible to keep this subject fresh in the minds of all webmasters.
Thank you in advance for your donations (www.RayGuhnDefenseFund.com) and emotional support and let’s ALL hope that when the sun sets Ray Guhn and his legal team’s fight to preserve our 1st Amendment freedoms for the adult industry are successful. Truth and the 1st amendment are on our side. The best 1st amendment team in the country is on the case, but the effort needs donations now to the legal fund to avoid being railroaded into a defeat that will shake the foundation of the adult industry.
Back story posted on Adultfyi.com: Pensacola, Florida – A third suspect has been arrested in a multimillion-dollar Internet pornography operation that authorities say was based in Pensacola.
Andrew Kevin Craft, 38, identified by investigators as the general manager of the Web site on which locally produced films were shown, was taken into custody at his home in the 6500 block of Memphis Avenue in Pensacola.
Like the two suspects previously arrested, Craft was booked on a charge of racketeering — conducting a criminal enterprise by engaging in prostitution and the manufacture and sale of obscene material.
Escambia County Sheriff Ron McNesby and State Attorney Bill Eddins announced a months-long investigation into Global Technology Productions, which did business as Ray Guhn Productions.
The business revolved around a Web site with some 5,000 subscribers who could view films featuring group sex for $30 a month, according to an affidavit.
The films were made at several homes in Pensacola and Pace, at five hotels in Escambia County, along Interstate 10 and Interstate 110, in wooded areas and in other public places, said Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar, who led the investigation.
Edgar estimated that about 100 local men and women participated in the films. He would not identify any of those people or say how the film- makers located them.
The other two men arrested were:
· Web site owner Clinton Raymond McCowen, 45, also known as Ray Guhn, who resides in the 1900 block of Rue La Fontaine in Navarre.
· Producer and Web site technician Kevin Patrick Stevens, 36, of the 9700 block of Fowler Avenue in Pensacola.
The affidavit says a confidential informant told investigators that Craft solicited her to make movies for Ray Guhn Productions.
In addition, the affidavit says the informant also said she was paid to have sex with Craft, McCowen and another associate during “private parties” at which they would determine whether women would be good performers.
The informant reported making as much as $1,000 for a movie.
Another confidential source told investigators that Craft, known to her as Jim, was responsible for recruiting models, finding locations for shoots, making the movies and paying the models, the affidavit says.
Craft was in the Escambia County Jail under $75,000 bond. McCowen and Stevens have bonded out.
Edgar said more arrests are expected.
Back story: PENSACOLA – Two northwest Florida men face racketeering charges after a law enforcement sting on a multimillion-dollar Internet pornography business.
Clinton Raymond McCowen, 45, of Navarre and Kevin Patrick Stevens, 36, of Pensacola have been arrested on charges of racketeering, conducting a criminal enterprise by engaging in prostitution and the manufacture and sale of obscene material, authorities said.
Escambia County Sheriff Ron McNesby and State Attorney Bill Eddins said McCowen and Stevens were the main operators of a Web site that sold video clips of northwest Florida men and women engaged in group sex. The site had about 5,000 registered subscribers who paid $30 a month for access to the videos.
According to an arrest affidavit, McCowen and his associates recruited and paid men and women up to $1,000 to appear in the videos. An undercover officer was told the group had been filming in the area for about five years, the report said.
Authorities began the investigation several months ago after receiving complaints about advertising of the films and recruiting models and actors from the area.
More arrests were expected, authorities said.