Staunton, Virginia- The owner of After Hours Video said Thursday he is considering opening a second adult business in Staunton, and also said he’s in negotiations to bring in another high-profile attorney to represent an employee indicted earlier this week on obscenity charges.
“I’m not going to fold up my tent and go away,” said Rick Krial, [pictured left] owner of After Hours Video on Springhill Road.
In November, the city’s grand jury indicted Krial and his company, LSP of Virginia, on 16 felony and eight misdemeanor counts of obscenity for videos sold at the store to undercover agents. On Tuesday the grand jury indicted a Krial employee, Tinsley W. Embrey, on six felony counts of obscenity and four misdemeanors.
“What’s next? Customers on the lot?” said Krial, reached by phone in Northern Virginia.
Krial said employees at the store learned of Embrey’s indictments late Wednesday afternoon.
“They’re outraged. They can’t believe it,” said Krial, who will foot the bill for his Embrey’s defense. “They know I’m 100 percent behind them.” He declined to say how many people are employed at the store.
Krial accused Staunton prosecutor Raymond C. Robertson of trying to hurt him monetarily. “He’s actually trying to drive a businessman out financially,” he said. “This is just a circus.”
Krial has hired nationally renowned attorney Paul Cambria Jr. for his defense, and said he’s in talks with Louis Sirkin, a Cincinnati-based attorney who gained national recognition in 1990 when the director of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati was found not guilty after being charged with displaying the controversial artworks of Robert Mapplethorpe.
Sirkin also has represented Larry Flynt, who opened a Hustler Store in Cincinnati that was raided by authorities. Krial wants to hire Sirkin to represent Embrey.
On Wednesday, Robertson confirmed that the United States Department of Justice is now involved in the case.
But Krial is undeterred. He said he’s scouting out property for a second store location in Staunton or possibly Augusta County. Another store in Harrisonburg also will be opening soon, Krial said.