WILDWOOD, FL — In a raid conducted last year, deputies from the Sumter County Sheriff’s Department seized more than 22,000 adult videos and DVDs from the X-Mart Supercenter, an adult store located near the intersection of State Road 44 and Interstate 75 near Wildwood, FL.In a ruling issued last month, Sumter County Judge Thomas Skidmore ordered the county to return the merchandise, paving the way for the store’s owner, Evgueni Souliaguine and his attorney Gary Edinger to reclaim the videos yesterday.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the videos were seized under a Florida law requiring that all movies must display an “official rating” by the Motion Picture Association of America, the Film Advisory Board, or any other official rating organization.

The relevant statute is found in Title XLVI, Chapter 847 of Florida state law. Section 847.202.(2) states that “It is unlawful for a person to sell at retail, rent to another, attempt to sell at retail, or attempt to rent to another, a video movie in this state unless the official rating of the motion picture from which it is copied is clearly displayed on the outside of its cassette, case, jacket, or other covering. If the motion picture from which the video movie is copied has no official rating or if the video movie has been altered so that its content materially differs from the motion picture, such video movie shall be clearly and prominently marked as ‘N.R.’ or ‘Not Rated.’”

Violations of the section are a first degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison, and/or a fine of up to $1,000.

In his ruling, Judge Skidmore stated that “it is clear that the statute has many ‘vagueness’ problems,” and further noted that with respect to the stock at X-mart, there are certain other indicators concerning the nature of the movies that make the need for official labeling questionable.

“The title of such movies, as well as the pictures on the DVDs cover, probably do more to put the public on notice of the DVD’s content than does any rating system,” Judge Skidmore wrote in his ruling last month. “Moreover, this Court speculates that any patron of X-Mart or similar stores would be fully aware of the content of the DVD or videos sold in such stores and that a labeling of Not Rated or NR would be meaningless.”

Representatives of the Sumter County Sheriff’s Dept. said Thursday that they confiscated videos that had no rating labels as part of a general effort to enforce state law during a two-month investigation into the illegal sale of DVDs and videotapes conducted countywide last year. The Sheriff’s Department said they targeted all video vendors, including those at flea markets and swap meets allegedly selling pirated movies.

“The law said, ‘movies have to be marked,’” said Captain Gary Brannen, according to the Sentinel.

The Sheriff’s Department said that although it is unlikely they will use the same statute against X-mart in the future, the department. will continue to monitor X-mart to ensure the store does not violate any other state obscenity laws.

“If they are conducting business in a legal, lawful manner, then we don’t have a problem,” Brannen said. “If we get word of a complaint, then we’ll go in there to investigate.”

According to the Sentinel, the raid and subsequent courtroom loss for the county are just the latest chapter in Sumter County’s fight against X-mart, a battle that goes back to the store’s launch in July of 2004.

When X-mart opened its doors, a group of local ministers vowed they would do everything in their power to get the store shut down, arguing that the presence of the store would sully the town’s image.

“Pornography is like pollution to the soul,” Rev. Craig Attaway, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Wildwood, said at the time, according to the Sentinel. “It absolutely has a negative impact on marriages and families.”

Last year, Souliaguine served over 10 months in jail on an obscenity conviction that finally was overturned in November of 2006.

The Sentinel reports that at least five X-Mart customers have been arrested, most for soliciting sex acts from undercover investigators posing as customers of the store’s video booths. (The video booths have since been closed).

Edinger said that, with respect to the confiscation of video tapes and DVDs from the store, he thinks the county will no longer be able to utilize the state’s rating-on-the-label law.

“I think they’re probably out of tricks,” Edinger said, according to the Sentinel. “Obscenity is probably the only one they have left.”

Edinger noted that X-mart is clean, brightly lit store, and it operates at a healthy distance from homes and churches in the area.

“It’s a well-run business,” Edinger said. “The store does extremely well. The objections are simply moral.”