BROOKHAVEN, Ga. — A DeKalb County judge has ordered the arrest of a Georgia pleasure product store owner over a dispute with the city of Brookhaven, which has attempted to put him out of business using zoning regulations and exorbitant fines.
DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Mark Anthony Scott ordered Michael Morrison, owner of the pleasure product retail store Stardust, jailed for six months for “contempt of court." Judge Scott also ordered Stardust to be padlocked unless Morrison pays Brookhaven the ruinous fines the city has imposed on him and his business.
Morrison has operated Stardust since 2013, the same year that Brookhaven adopted a law preventing a “sexually oriented business” to be located near a similar business or close to a residential district.
The Stardust is across the street from an apartment complex and next to a local strip club, which regularly pays a “fine” to the city to operate.
City officials claim Morrison owes them over $800,000 in “fines and fees.”
“We can’t expect quality, community-focused redevelopment around adult-oriented business. It took seven years but with this victory justice has been duly served and the future of Buford Highway looks even brighter,” local politician Joe Gebbia said in a statement to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
The city has “investigated” the Stardust by sending an undercover inspector to count the sex toys on display.
During a hearing in February, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports, “a Brookhaven code compliance officer testified that he visited Stardust and found at least 200 sexual devices on display.”
He “stopped counting at 200,” the officer testified.
