DALLAS, TX – Seven people, including a man from Greenwood Village, Colorado who is well known to his local community for his humanitarian activities, have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Dallas, Texas on charges of obscenity, racketeering and tax evasion. Edward Joseph Wedelstedt, who owns several adult video stores in various states, will face charges of obscenity along with six other people after the grand jury found several movies they distributed to be obscene.”These charges allege that the defendants ran a criminal enterprise that pandered obscene materials throughout the United States,” Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the U.S. Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement.

The other defendants include Vivian Lee Schoug of Littleton; Jeffrey Mark Parrish of Denver; Arthur Morris Boten of Des Moines, Iowa; James Randal Martinson of Memphis, Tenn.; and Leroy Moore Sr. and Beverly Kay Van Dusen, both of Arlington, Texas.

“These videos and DVDs can be generally described as hard-core pornography with patently offensive depictions of adults performing sexual conduct,” said federal prosecutors in a written statement.

Wedelstedt’s attorney, Hank Asbill of Washington D.C., said that his client is innocent of both the obscenity and the tax evasion charges.

“My client certainly denies these allegations and looks forward to an opportunity to prove his innocence to an objective audience, namely a federal jury in Dallas,” Asbill said.

Asbill also made a thinly veiled reference to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ recent pledge to return to the aggressive obscenity prosecutions of previous presidential administrations.

“Somebody in the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., thinks [obscenity] now ought to be some law enforcement priority,” Asbill said.

“He’s in the adult entertainment business, not the obscenity business,” Asbill added of his client. “He markets adult movies to adults only in adult-only stores. Anyone who watches a movie that he distributes is an adult who watches it by choice.”

According to prominent First Amendment attorney Larry Walters of FirstAmendment.com, this latest round of obscenity charges is disturbing but neither unexpected nor groundbreaking.

“This case has been percolating for years, and it appears that the Department of Justice has finally decided to file charges shortly before the statute of limitations expired. While any obscenity case is disturbing, given the First Amendment implications, this case apparently does not involve any of the more cutting edge issues relating to online publication of adult material. The law relating to fixed media obscenity is relatively well established, and comes down to the well known Miller Test, and the prevailing community standards in the jurisdiction chosen for prosecution. This particular case also involves some ancillary charges like tax evasion racketeering and forfeiture, which increases the pressure on the defendant to work out a plea deal. It has been a long time since the government has used the racketeering statute to pursue obscenity offenses, and that is a disturbing development. It is my understanding that the defense is committed to fighting these charges, and it is likely that the recent decision in Rob Black’s case (Extreme Associates) will come in to play, given its broad implications for obscenity prosecutions.”

Wedelstedt is known for his generous financial contributions to organizations that fight against child abuse, such as the Kempe Children’s Foundation and the Denver Nuggets Wives Organization.

In addition to five adult stores in Colorado, Wedelstedt also owns stores in 17 other states.

“Effective use of law enforcement’s full arsenal is essential to stop purveyors of obscenity from distributing their offensive and degrading material,” a Justice Department spokesperson said.