Billings, Montana- A Billings man who ran a catalog business called Suzie’s Corral admitted in federal court Tuesday to illegally transporting obscene videotapes.
The obscenity prosecution is believed to the first by federal prosecutors in Montana.
Gary A. Robinson, 62, pleaded guilty to charges of transportation of obscene materials and admitted to a forfeiture count. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
In a somewhat unusual proceeding, Robinson was arraigned on the charges and pleaded guilty at the same hearing before U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull. Robinson, who signed a plea agreement March 10, appeared with his attorney, Robert Stephens. The plea agreement was sealed.
Robinson told the judge that in October 2002, he copied and sold obscene material and pornography to individuals and used United Parcel Service to ship the videotapes. He said he was living between Lavina and Roundup at the time.
U.S. Attorney Bill Mercer said the videotapes, which included titles like “Ride’um Cowgirl” and “Dogs and Horses and Pigs and Chickens,” contained graphic scenes involving bestiality and other sexual activity that involved excretory functions, according to the government’s proof. Robinson’s catalog provided graphic descriptions of each video.
Robinson also will forfeit to the government all property traceable to proceeds of the crime and all property used to commit the crime, including videotape duplicating machines and all videotapes in the Suzie’s Corral catalog.
Mercer said the case was the first obscenity prosecution in Montana since he had been the U.S. attorney and that he didn’t think there had been any previously.
“The transportation by common carrier of these materials in interstate commerce is criminal conduct,” he said. “The fact is Congress has criminalized the distribution of obscenity.”
What constitutes obscenity ultimately is determined by community standards and a jury.
“Had we gone to trial, we believe, and the defendant’s guilty plea suggests, 12 jurors would find that those materials violated local standards,” Mercer said.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice and U.S. attorney’s office.
Cebull released Robinson without bond until sentencing. A sentencing date will be set later.