11-21, local: Police find 17 sex toys in local woman's car
during DUI traffic stop
By JOHN LYNCH
WHITE OAK — A Longview woman who sells sex toys has been charged
with felony obscenity after White Oak police found some of her wares
in her car during a traffic stop
The arrest report describes the 17 items as "obscene materials
and obscene devices," but Police Chief Charlie Smith said the items
were mostly lotions and objects defined in a dictionary as having
the shape and often the appearance of the male genitalia, used in
sexual stimulation.
How illegal is that? Prosecutors will have to decide when White
Oak investigators forward their findings to the district attorney's
office sometime in the next week, Smith said.
"We'll see what they do with it," Smith said.
Kathleen Elizabeth "Kathy" Grubbs, a distributor for the national
company Slumber Parties Inc., calls the charge, which carries a
maximum penalty of two years in jail, "kind of ridiculous."
State law appears a little less forgiving: It's illegal to
"wholesale promote" obscene materials or devices. Texas statute says
an obscene device is a simulated sexual organ or an item designed or
marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital
organs. The law allows investigators to assume that anyone with six
or more of the items is intending to promote them.
In April, Kilgore police raided the Adult Book Store/Video Store
at 1907 Industrial Blvd., seizing 12 large trash bags full of
devices police said were being sold illegally. The raid came after
an undercover officer visited the shop twice before the raid, making
at least one purchase. An 11-page inventory compiled by police
estimated the materials were worth $19,082. The sexual devices on
the 11-page inventory ranged in price from a "Climax Band" that sold
for $5.95 to a "Wild and Crazy Tickler" for $11.95; a "Hyper Sonic
G" for $69.95; a "Plush Playmate" for $89.95; and a "Cyber
Sexploration Kit" for $44.95.
The store owner, Robert Duggan III, was never arrested, but he
agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of obscene display, a
charge equivalent to a traffic ticket, and agreed to pay a fine and
let police destroy the items.
Grubbs, 47, said she has been selling the items for about two
months as a distributor for Slumber Parties Inc., a national sex toy
party business that operates out of Ohio and Louisiana.
Slumber Parties is where the Tupperware party meets Victoria's
Secret, the company says on its Web site. The distributors host
women-only parties in private homes to show off their merchandise.
Grubbs stresses the parties are only for adults, meaning no one
allowed under age 18, and men are definitely prohibited.
"Believe it or not, there's a lot of women who go to these
parties," Grubbs said. "It's very popular."
Company officials did not return a call Wednesday, but Slumber
Parties claims its network of distributors sold $15 million in
"romance-enriching" products, including lotions, powders, lingerie
and private bedroom accessories, with prices ranging from $2.50 to
$139. Sales this year are expected to reach $20 million.
The seizure of the items occured during a traffic stop on Texas
42 on Old Highway 80 in White Oak at 10:27 p.m. Monday. Police
stopped Grubbs' truck after seeing her driving erratically, an
arrest report said. She failed or refused to perform field sobriety
tests and was charged with driving while intoxicated, and a breath
test showed she had blood-alcohol levels of 0.228 percent and 0.22
percent, the report said.
Police searching her truck after the arrest found the box of
erotic items. The White Oak police chief said investigators are used
to finding drugs and guns, but sex toys are the first in his 22
years of experience.
"There's no telling what you'll find on one of these stops,"
Smith said.
