FLORENCE, NJ — The owner and manager of Florence Adult Books were arrested and charged with violating criminal and township codes and the Route 130 business was shuttered after an investigation by police and code enforcement officers, police said.
Manager John A. O’Brien, 61, of Philadelphia, was arrested last Thursday morning by police officers at the store and owner John Bordone, 62, of Mantua Township was arrested when he arrived at township police headquarters police said.
Each are charged with maintaining a sexually oriented business as a nuisance, having pirated recordings and failing to post signs indicating restrictions to minors — a violation of the state sexually oriented business code. And O’Brien is charged with possessing a prohibited weapon — a machete — that he had behind the counter, police said.
Investigators had found that the store, located in the 2000 block of Route 130, has eight booths where patrons can view pornography, but the booths had holes cut out between them, in violation of the state’s sexually oriented business law, police said.
Police said O’Brien told investigators he had been living at the store recently, which had no running water or bathroom facilities, police said. Code officials deemed the building an unsafe health hazard and shut it down.
Police also found some of the DVDs at the store were illegally copied, in violation of recording laws.
O’Brien, who was behind the counter when police and code officers arrived at 10:45 a.m. Thursday, allegedly refused to cooperate with detectives and then to comply with detectives orders that he come out from behind the counter. Detectives detained him when he was inches away from reaching toward an area where police found the ma chete.
Officers took O’Brien to police headquarters, where he was additionally charged with the weapon violation and obstructing law.
Bordone, who police said has owned the business for more than 20 years, was arrested at about 3 p.m. Thursday when he arrived at police headquarters.
Both men were taken to the Burlington County Jail in Mount Holly following processing on the charges, O’Brien on $20,000 full bail and Bordone on $10,000 full bail.