FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRM
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1996 (202) 514-5780
FAX: (202) 514-1793
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- The Criminal Division of the Department
of Justice announced that on Thursday, October 3, 1996, David
Bradford Stephenson, of Forestville, California, was sentenced in
U. S. District Court in San Francisco. On June 20, 1996,
Stephenson had pled guilty to four counts of a criminal
indictment arising from his unlawful mailing of obscene material
and his unlawful mailing of advertisements for obscene material.
The charges against Stephenson arose out of his operation of
a mail order pornography business which sold hard-core video
tapes produced by the defendant himself. Records seized from the
defendant during the execution of search warrants at his various
residences revealed that Stephenson sold the material he produced
both nationally and internationally. He had been indicted in
U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on December 5, 1995, but as
part of a plea agreement he was permitted to plead guilty in the
San Francisco.
As part of his sentence Stephenson is to serve 12 months in
home detention, and will be on probation for three years.
Stephenson was also ordered to participate in a mental health
counseling program, and was ordered to pay a special assessment
of $200.
Stephenson has forfeited to the government the masters and
all copies of six hard-core pornographic video tapes he produced
and which were mailed or transported interstate or
internationally, all brochures and advertisements for those six
video tapes, and the computer and printer he used to facilitate
the operation and promotion of his business. Stephenson has also
agreed to forfeit to the government $75,000 in proceeds from the
sale of the hard-core pornographic video tapes he produced.
The case was investigated by members of the Los Angeles
Police Department's Administrative Vice Division, who are cross-deputized federally, and who are part of a federal-state
partnership created to assist in the enforcement of federal
obscenity and child pornography laws. Assistance was provided by
the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in San Francisco.
This case was prosecuted by the Child Exploitation and
Obscenity Section of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department
of Justice, Washington, D.C., in cooperation with the U.S.
Attorneys' Office in Los Angeles, and the U.S. Attorneys' Office
in San Francisco.
All inquiries should be directed to:
Terry R. Lord, Acting Chief or M. Craig Wolf, Trial Attorney
United States Department of Justice
Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS)
310 Washington Center
1001 G Street, N.W., Suite 310
Washington, D.C. 20530
(202) 514-5780, FAX: -1793
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