BY KRISTEN DELGUZZI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
City officials have characterized Larry Flynt's downtown Hustler store as a sex shop since the day it opened. Now, they are trying to prove it in court.
In what will be the first test of Cincinnati's laws regulating adult businesses, police on Thursday filed criminal charges against two men who manage the Hustler store.
Michael Chiodi and Mr. Flynt's brother, Jimmy, each was charged with one count of operating a sexually oriented business without a license. Larry Flynt, who is not involved in day-to-day operations of the store he owns, was not charged.
The charges come three weeks after Cincinnati police raided the store and seized business records. The records were needed to determine how much of the store's business was devoted to adult material.
City law requires licenses for any business that stocks, sells or displays a significant amount of adult material. The Hustler store does not have a license and likely could not get one because it is not in an area zoned for industrial use, as the law requires. "We've acknowledged that these type of businesses have the right to operate, but not to operate wherever they choose," said Councilman Phil Heimlich, who spearheaded the law.
Mr. Chiodi and Jimmy Flynt are scheduled for arraignment May 1, but they will not appear in court. Both men will enter written pleas of not guilty. That same day, the Flynt brothers will be arraigned in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court on obscenity charges stemming from the sale of explicit videos at the store.
The licensing charges are first-degree misdemeanors, punishable by up to six months in jail. If Mr. Chiodi and Jimmy Flynt are convicted, the city could ask that the store be closed or forced to relocate.
