NEWARK, N.J. — Torture Portal operator Barry Goldman has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors over obscenity charges, according to a story reported by www.xbiz.com.

Goldman was indicted by a federal grand jury for violating 18 U.S.C. § 1461 and § 1467 for the distribution of “Torture of a Porn Store Girl,” “Defiant Crista Submits” and “Pregnant and Willing” through the mail. The videos all were mailed in 2006 and 2007.

Goldman’s attorneys had rejected those indictments because FBI agents spent about three years making “controlled buys” of his movies to build their case and that the Justice Department was “forum shopping” to find an indictment.

The case has been mired in legal controversy after Goldman was indicted by a federal grand jury in New Jersey after a previous indictment was dropped in Montana.

With the original indictment, Goldman also faced forfeitures of domain names MastersOfPain.com and TorturePortal.com and a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 on each of the eight counts charged in the indictment.

Details of the plea were unavailable at post time, but Justice Department spokeswoman Rebecca Carmichael confirmed to XBIZ the plea and sentencing hearing for Goldman was slated Tuesday for Nov. 29.

Goldman attorneys Lisa M. Mack and Louise Arkel argued in the past that the Justice Department handled Goldman’s investigation in a “heavy-handed and inexplicable” pattern and that its beginnings were “the result of a deliberate and intentional search for the most favorable forum possible.”