The Sex Police

The latest Johnson County grand jury formed in mid-July and disbanded on October 2. Before they broke, the jurors issued a final set of recommendations. They called on law enforcement to enforce obscenity laws and on the media to educate the public about them. They asked business owners to reconsider selling potentially obscene material and urged them to stock "all questionable material" out of sight of minors. Finally, they encouraged lawmakers and district courts to retain the grand jury as a tool.

The statement lacked guidelines for business owners or prosecutors as to what exactly this grand jury considered obscene.

Instead, it signed off on criminal charges that will be decided by a Johnson County jury, which will have to review a stack of dirty magazines, DVDs and sex toys.

Dozens of piñatas hang from the ceiling of Gringo Loco. They hang so low that customers have to duck to navigate the aisles and avoid getting kicked in the head by a candy-filled Spider-Man.

The shelves of Gringo Loco, a tiny Latino convenience store in an Olathe strip mall, are stocked with ethnic foods, knickknacks and Spanish-language CDs.

The grand jury accused the store of selling Babysitter #18, a 2004 film about sitters watching a 30-year-old baby, seducing a police officer and getting the attention of a "cop — and his night stick."

Cosby likes to lump stores such as Gringo Loco and Hollywood at Home with chain adult book­stores and strip clubs on his list of SOBs.

And Cosby's cause has caught on in Overland Park. A parent filed a complaint against Spirit Halloween, a costume shop affiliated with Spencer's Gifts.

On September 2, Mark Rocklage called the Overland Park Police Department after his 12-year-old daughter showed him one of the store's adult costumes. Sgt. Jim Weaver says the police investigated but didn't cite the store.

Instead, the police handed their findings over to the Johnson County District Attorney's Office, which tossed the case to a grand jury.

Rocklage declined to speak with The Pitch, but he told WDAF Channel 4 that the costumes showed male and female body parts. "It also showed bestiality," he told the TV station.

The costume Rocklage was referring to was called "country lov'n," which depicts a pajama-clad hillbilly attached at the crotch to an inflatable sheep in fishnets. The costume sells for $49.99 on Spirit Halloween's Web site.

A grand jury accused Spirit Halloween of stocking racy costumes where minors could see them. Among the other objectionable costumes was a "snake charmer" costume with a cobra growing from its crotch; a "tricky dick" inflatable-penis costume; and a "wet T-shirt winner," with a see-through white T-shirt and "Z cup polyfoam breasts."

Fortunately for Spirit Halloween, a jury won't have to decide if the costumes are obscene. Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline dismissed the charges against Spirit Halloween on October 10 after the store agreed to take the four costumes off the shelves and put them behind the counter.

However, a jury may still have to decide if dildos, a butt plug, a cock ring and an inflatable cheerleader doll named Chrissy, sold at an Olathe Priscilla's, are obscene. The Priscilla's, at 1848 East Santa Fe, is also charged with selling the porn flick Teen Cum Targets.

In Wyandotte County, porn magazines and DVDs caught the grand jury's attention. The M&M Inc. gas station, on a commercial stretch of State Avenue, is accused of a single obscenity violation for selling the July 2007 issue of Naughty Neighbors. The nudie magazine, published in Miami, shows penetration, blow jobs and sex-toy play and features "The MILF Next Door." A hometown girl even made the pages, with a model named Leena listed as hailing from Independence.

Smoke Easy Cigarette Outlet is accused of selling five obscene magazines and DVDs. Smoke Easy, on Leavenworth Road, is accused of selling a pair of DVDs: Sex Party Teens and Latinas Lambe Mecos 4. Smoke Easy also faces charges for magazines: the August 2004 issue of Tittie Time; the May 2005 issue of Finally Legal; Men's World, Volume 18, No. 6; XXX FUX No. 26; and Men's World Close Up No. 9.

Nearly all of the magazines and DVDs named in the indictments are available over the Internet. From shops in Missouri, The Pitch purchased several of the items that the Wyandotte County grand jury deemed obscene. Tittie Time includes close-ups of abnormally large breasts, but the magazine stops short of showing penetration. XXX FUX and the Men's World titles are cheeky British "jazz mags" that refer to body parts, underwear and sex as, respectively "bums," "knickers" and "shagging." But Men's World self-censors, digitally obscuring blow jobs, hand jobs and sex-toy play.

Maybe a clue as to what offended the Wyandotte County grand jury is in the video Sex Party Teens. The film opens with a girl's 18th birthday party being crashed by two men who have sex with her and then degrade her. One of the guys asks the girl, "Eighteen, huh? You don't look a day over 12."

Phillip Cosby's wish may finally be coming true in Johnson County. The cases against Hollywood at Home, Gringo Loco and Priscilla's appear destined for trial.