Press Release

MOVIE GALLERY EMPLOYEE ARRESTED FOR “DOING HER JOB”

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Contact: Randy Sharp, ext. 240
AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION
P. O. Drawer 2440
Tupelo, MS 38803
Ph. (662) 844-5036
www.afa.net

For immediate release: August 27, 2001

TUPELO, MS - Movie Gallery, America’s largest hard-core sex video rental chain, may need to warn unsuspecting employees and job applicants that a fringe benefit from working in the company could be a police arrest, court date, and a monetary fine for doing their job.

According to Randy Sharp, Director of Special Projects at American Family Association (AFA), numerous local and state laws hold store clerks accountable for renting and selling obscene videos, even when they’re just doing the job they were hired for. “Movie Gallery has thousands of employees who are at risk of being arrested for breaking obscenity laws. They can face jail time or large fines when local prosecutors enforce the law,” said Sharp.

Sharp cited the recent arrest of a Movie Gallery employee in West Point, Mississippi. An 18-year-old store clerk was charged with violating Mississippi obscenity statute 97-29-101, 'distribution of obscene materials’. As part of her job requirement, she rented a hard-core sex video to a customer. “Unfortunately for her, it was an undercover law enforcement agent,” said Sharp, “As long as Movie Gallery makes a profit, do they consider their employees getting arrested on obscenity charges as simply ‘collateral damage’?”

The employee’s mother told AFA her daughter has been fired from the company and that since the arrest, “nobody at Movie Gallery will even have anything to do with my child,” including returning phone calls. She said her daughter’s future career in dentistry could be ruined because of a criminal record, while Movie Gallery has shown “no concern.”

Sharp said an alliance of pro-family groups in eleven states is calling on Movie Gallery to get out of the hard-core porn business. Movie Gallery currently owns close to 1030 stores in 31 states. AFA has produced a free brochure, The Truth About Movie Gallery and Pornography. It can be ordered by calling 1-800-326-4543, ext. 214.