Law agents apprehend woman on porn charge

[LadyGardenSnake]

PINEVILLE -- Another misdemeanor arrest has been made at MidNite Video South, the third in two weeks.

According to McDonald County Sheriff Robert Evenson, Cynthia Blackerby, 42, of Anderson was arrested at about 2 p.m. Wednesday and charged with second degree promoting pornography. Blackerby is accused of selling an X-rated video to a minor, a Class A misdemeanor.

Bond was set at $1,000, and Blackerby posted it last night, a McDonald County Sheriff's Office employee said. A court date has not been set, a representative of the circuit clerk's office said Thursday morning, as the bond has not yet been received.

McDonald County Prosecuting Attorney Steve Geeding was out of the office Thursday and could not be reached for comment.

Wednesday's arrest is the third in 13 days at the video store. On June 10, Autumn Woolsey, 27, of Joplin, was arrested on a charges of promoting pornography and resisting arrest. She is accused of selling a minor an X-rated video on April 28.

And on June 18, charges were filed against Marcia Ann Bailey, 32, of Anderson. Bailey was charged with possession of an X-rated video with the intent of selling it for monetary gain.

At the time of Bailey's arrest, officers with the Southwest Missouri Drug Task Force discovered three outstanding warrants against her for failure to appear: two out of Granby, while the third was for a McDonald County charge for possession of drug paraphernalia.

In October 2002, Geeding and Special Prosecutor Tim Finnical filed an injunction to close MidNite Video South for at least a year because the business was being used "for the purpose of lewdness, assignation, or illegal purpose involving sexual or other contact through which the transmission of HIV infection can occur."

On March 8, 2003, McDonald County Associate Circuit Court Judge John LePage ordered the business closed for a year. The ruling was appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court, who turned down the appeal this year as being a moot issue, since the injunction's time period had run out. The store then reopened.

The video store is owned by Robert W. Crump Sr. and his son, Robert Crump Jr., who own another adult video store, this one located on Route FF, the border between Newton and Jasper counties.

[Paul Markham]

They definitely do not want that store in their town.