New Bern, North Carolina- After spending about four hours at the New Bern, North Carolina police station, video store owner Greg Sakas was released Thursday on his own recognizance.
Sakas’ store was raided a second time this week on the anniversary of 9/11 by police who confiscated his entire inventory of adult videos and magazines. Sakas, who’s store was first raided in January, was left with a few adult novelties and lingerie in his depleted inventory.
Sakas was taken away in handcuffs earlier this morning, finger printed and booked. But since he had already put his house up in the January case, it was determined that he didn’t have to put up additional bond this time around.
A hearing in the January case is scheduled for September 27 while a hearing in this latest case is set for October 25th.
Sakas was also surprised to learn that the city DA claimed he hadn’t been aware of the latest police raid on the store and that a warrant had been put out on him. According to Sakas, that has him more than convinced the harassment is soley and politically motivated by police chief Frank Palombo. According to Sakas, Palombo has eyes on a state office and is backed by the Christian Coalition.
Sakas, who describes his misadventures with the police dept. as “black comedy,” was particularly relieved to know that he wouldn’t be in jail to miss the North Carolina-Virginia football game on Saturday.
Sakas who was in police custody for close to four hours says a lot of that time was spent determining who his next of kin was.
“They kept asking me, and I kept trying to tell them it was Christina Maria Sakas,” said Sakas. “They said who’s that? Your wife? I said, no. It’s My Dog. She’s my next of kin. They said, no. We’ve got to have a human. I said that’s the best I can do. It’s my dog. So they had to pull it up that I did have a cousin. I said I don’t even talk to him. I said you have to put my dog as my next of kin. They just kept looking at me but I refused to give them anything else. You have to keep your sense of humor.”