DUNDEE, Fla. — Polk County deputies have arrested a store owner after undercover detectives purchased 10 porn videos from her.
Minakashiben Patel was arrested yesterday at the Sunoco Superway No. 6 gas station and convenience store that she owns in Dundee, Fla.
Patel was charged with the wholesale promotion of obscene material and 10 counts each of distribution of obscenity and possession of obscenity with intent to sell. She also was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, which she allegedly sold at the store.
Patel, 52, was booked into the Polk County Jail and was held without bail Tuesday. Other details of her arrest have not been obtained by XBIZ.
The last obscenity arrest in Polk County involved adult star Kimberly Kupps.
She and her husband both agreed to a plea deal over obscenity charges in February 2012, adjudicating the pair guilty of a single misdemeanor offense and imposing a fine of $325. Industry attorney Lawrence Walters represented the pair.
Kupps was charged with 13 felonies for violating the distribution and sale of obscene material and one for the wholesale promotion of obscene material for content on her namesake site, KimberlyKupps.com. Her husband also was charged with the same counts.
After Kupps was arrested, the Polk County sheriff — Grady Judd — declared war on the production and distribution of porn in his county.
“We want a wholesome community here, we don’t want smut peddlers,” Judd said, “and if they try to peddle their smut from Polk County or into Polk County we’ll be on them like a cheap suit.”
Walters told XBIZ on Wednesday that Patel's arrest is a waste of taxpayer resources and "a danger to our fundamental liberties."
"This recent arrest demonstrates the Polk County Sheriff’s fundamental misunderstanding of the changes in social mores that have occurred in the last two decades – even in Polk County, Fla.," Walters said. "'Fifty Shades of Grey' is flying off the bookstore shelves, while Sheriff Judd is prosecuting gas station owners for selling girly videos."
