http://www.xbiz.com/news/95744
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Trial was scheduled to begin June 30; faces three to five years in prison


By Steve Javors
Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008
PENSACOLA, Fla. – The trial for adult webmaster Clinton McCowen, aka Ray Guhn, ended before it began. According to a news report, Guhn appeared in court yesterday and pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge, thus avoiding a trial.
Shortly before midnight, The Pensacola News Journal reported that Guhn and his associates, all principals with the Cash Titans program, pleaded guilty to various charges – but not obscenity. According to the article, Guhn will be sentenced to three to five years in state prison.

Cash Titans general manager Andrew Craft, and Guhn partner Kevin Stevens, pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering and are facing two to four years in prison. Another defendant, Thomas Dwyer, pleaded guilty to wholesale promotion of obscene materials.

All remain free on bond before sentencing on Aug. 11.

Global Technologies Inc., doing business as Ray Guhn Productions and Cash Titans, made $10 million in its first five years, prosecutors alleged, while it shot adult Internet content in homes, at hotels, along the interstate and in public in Pensacola and Pace, Fla.

Guhn was initially charged by Escambia Country prosecutors in June 2006 with racketeering, enterprise prostitution and the production and sale of obscene material. Escambia Country then dropped the charges before refilling the racketeering and money laundering charges in neighboring Santa Rosa County in July 2007.

"We have this [porn] problem statewide,” Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar, who prosecuted the case, told the Pensacola News Journal. “I hope prosecutors will take our lead and enforce our law.”

Guhn’s lawyer Lawrence Walters was quoted in the New York Times earlier yesterday for using a novel defense strategy. In regards to the community standards prong of the Miller test, Walters sought to use Google Trends search data of Pensacola residents to buoy his claim that local community members have an active interest in sexual content.

Judge Ron Swanson ruled that the community in this case was defined as the counties that make up Florida’s First Circuit Court: Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton.

“Time and time again you’ll have jurors sitting on a jury panel who will condemn material that they routinely consume in private,” Walters told the Times. “Utilizing search queries] we can show how people really think and feel and act in their own homes, which, parenthetically, is where this material was intended to be viewed.”

By pleading guilty to racketeering, Guhn avoided an obscenity trial.

Walters was unavailable for comment at press time.

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080625/NEWS01/806250347
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Porn peddlers guilty

4 men avoid trial in case of X-rated Web site run out of Pensacola area

Kris Wernowsky
kwernowsky@pnj.com

The final curtain dropped Tuesday on a multimillion-dollar adult entertainment enterprise ­— featuring X-rated movies shot in Pensacola and Pace — as its key players pleaded guilty in court.

- Clinton Raymond McCowen, 47, of Navarre, also known as Ray Guhn, pleaded guilty to unlawful financial transactions.

McCowen will be sentenced to from three to five years in state prison.

- Andrew Craft, 40, of Pensacola, and Kevin Patrick Stevens, 38, of Pensacola each pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering. They face two to four years in state prison.

- Thomas Dwyer, 41, pleaded guilty to wholesale promotion of obscene materials.

All four men remain free on bond until their Aug. 11 sentencing hearing before Circuit Judge Ron Swanson. Each defendant left the courthouse without comment.

"Ray Guhn Productions" featured a Web site with more than 5,000 subscribers who could view films featuring group sex and other acts for $30 a month.

The company made $10 million in its five years of operation, prosecutors said.

The films were made at homes throughout Pensacola and Pace; at least five hotels in Pensacola; along Interstate 10 and Interstate 110; in wooded areas and in other public places.

Tuesday's pleas helped attorneys avoid a three-week obscenity trial that was expected to begin Monday with jury selection at the Santa Rosa County Courthouse.

Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar prosecuted the two-year-old case that began with arrests in summer 2006.

The veteran prosecutor heralded Tuesday's pleas as a major victory against obscenity in the Panhandle and the state of Florida.

"We have this problem statewide. I hope prosecutors will take our lead and enforce our law," he said.

But McCowen's attorney thought otherwise.

Altamonte Springs attorney Lawrence Walters, one of McCowen's three attorneys, is known for representing clients in the adult-entertainment industry. He said that he doesn't expect Tuesday's outcome to result in a rash of charges filed by Florida prosecutors.

"There was no finding of obscenity by a jury," Walters said. "The majority of the state attorneys in this state have come to recognize that the communities don't want publishers sent to jail for sexual expression."

To prove that material is obscene, and not protected by the First Amendment, it has to fall below the community standards. In this case, that standard is defined by the 1st Judicial Circuit of Florida.

Walters planned to present evidence of data from the Google search engine to show jurors that people in the Pensacola area aren't adverse to downloading pornography.

"We believed we could show that Pensacola had a very heavy appetite for sexual expression," Walters said.

McCowen was the owner of the company. Stevens was a producer and Web site technician. Craft was responsible for recruiting models, finding locations for shoots, making the movies and paying the models.

It's estimated that about 100 local men and women participated in the production of the material in question. Many were expected to testify at trial.

Edgar alleged that McCowen and company threw wild sex parties after the shoots and gave pain pills and cocaine to performers.

http://adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=28740
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This is a piece I wrote in December, 2006. The Florida adult industry may have taken one step closer to closure with the Ray Guhn case on Tuesday.

www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=28738

Porn Valley- The December/January issue of Giant magazine has an article on the Ray Guhn [pictured] case, calling it a landmark one over pornography, obscenity and prostitution in Pensacola, Florida.

Guhn aka, Clinton Raymond McGowen was arrested in June as were two of his business associates, Kevin Patrick Stevens and Andrew Kevin Craft. The charges were racketeering- conducting a criminal enterprise by engaging in prostitution and the manufacture and sale of obscene material. Guhn, who's pleaded not guilty, is the owner of the porn website cumonherface.com, which, according to an affidavit, generated more than $1 million a year in customer sales. The site had something like 5,000 subscribers who each paid $29.95 monthly to view online videos.

Guhn's attorney is Lawrence Walters. And, according to Walters, the case could very well shut down the production of adult entertainment filming in the state of Florida. Not only that, it could prompt other state governments to initiate a round of anti-pornography actions.

"Obscenity is completely discretionary," says Walters. "It's about the only crime where you don't know you are guilty until the jury comes back with a verdict."

"That goes against all the principles of law," states Walters. According to Veronica Monet described in the article as "a 15-year veteran of the porn and escort industries," red flags were raised on Guhn's site- where shots of abnormal penetration, interracial sexual activity and copious amounts of bodily fluids were contained. It's Monet's contention that Guhn is a sacrificial lamb.

"Amateur sites don't have a bankroll of attorneys," she says. "If you're Vivid Video, you've got [a lot of lawyers]. You can tie the government up in court. It's going to be lengthy. And expensive." Monet also seems to think that the government is working the link between prostitution and porn which the porn industry in California successfully fought in the Freeman case. Guhn and his associates were allegedly recruiting local Pensacola men and women to perform and were paid between $300 to $1,000.

Guhn was arrested after an undercover individual posed as someone interested in performing.

"Pornography is when a third party pays two people, presumably actors, to have sex with each other," thinks Money. "How it distinguishes itself from prostitution is that the man having sex with the woman didn't pay that woman. Instead, another person, the producer and/or director of that film paid both of those people."

"This is unheard of," continues Monet. "How come it's okay for Vivid Video to pay two people to have sex, but my client can't pay me?"

Interestingly, the article notes that Alberto Gonzalez's stepson Jared Freeze worked as a website consultant for Larry Flynt but resigned soon after Gonzalez was nominated to Attorney General.

The Guhn case also seems to be another step in the government's plan to go after amateur porn sites which have every reason to be scared.

"They can pick anyone out of the barrel," says Walters. Guhn just happened to be first.

http://www.adultfyi.com/read.php?ID=28738
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Wasn't Ray Guhn's attorney Lawrence Walters just the other day making national news with his comments about a Google defense?

Pensacola, Florida- The final curtain dropped Tuesday on a multimillion-dollar adult entertainment enterprise ­— featuring X-rated movies shot in Pensacola and Pace — as its key players pleaded guilty in court.

Clinton Raymond McCowen, 47, of Navarre, also known as Ray Guhn, pleaded guilty to unlawful financial transactions.

McCowen will be sentenced to from three to five years in state prison.

- Andrew Craft, 40, of Pensacola, and Kevin Patrick Stevens, 38, of Pensacola each pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering. They face two to four years in state prison.

- Thomas Dwyer, 41, pleaded guilty to wholesale promotion of obscene materials.

All four men remain free on bond until their Aug. 11 sentencing hearing before Circuit Judge Ron Swanson. Each defendant left the courthouse without comment.

"Ray Guhn Productions" featured a Web site with more than 5,000 subscribers who could view films featuring group sex and other acts for $30 a month.

The company made $10 million in its five years of operation, prosecutors said.

The films were made at homes throughout Pensacola and Pace; at least five hotels in Pensacola; along Interstate 10 and Interstate 110; in wooded areas and in other public places.

Tuesday's pleas helped attorneys avoid a three-week obscenity trial that was expected to begin Monday with jury selection at the Santa Rosa County Courthouse.

Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar prosecuted the two-year-old case that began with arrests in summer 2006.

The veteran prosecutor heralded Tuesday's pleas as a major victory against obscenity in the Panhandle and the state of Florida.

"We have this problem statewide. I hope prosecutors will take our lead and enforce our law," he said.

But McCowen's attorney thought otherwise.

Altamonte Springs attorney Lawrence Walters, one of McCowen's three attorneys, is known for representing clients in the adult-entertainment industry. He said that he doesn't expect Tuesday's outcome to result in a rash of charges filed by Florida prosecutors.

"There was no finding of obscenity by a jury," Walters said. "The majority of the state attorneys in this state have come to recognize that the communities don't want publishers sent to jail for sexual expression."

To prove that material is obscene, and not protected by the First Amendment, it has to fall below the community standards. In this case, that standard is defined by the 1st Judicial Circuit of Florida.

Walters planned to present evidence of data from the Google search engine to show jurors that people in the Pensacola area aren't adverse to downloading pornography.

"We believed we could show that Pensacola had a very heavy appetite for sexual expression," Walters said.

McCowen was the owner of the company. Stevens was a producer and Web site technician. Craft was responsible for recruiting models, finding locations for shoots, making the movies and paying the models.

It's estimated that about 100 local men and women participated in the production of the material in question. Many were expected to testify at trial.

Edgar alleged that McCowen and company threw wild sex parties after the shoots and gave pain pills and cocaine to performers.

Yet another reason I can't wait to get out of here.

Not surprised. Florida is a red state and not a great place to be in the industry. Not sure exactly how much time he was looking at, but Im sure it was significant.

I would not be producing content in Florida after this case.

Let’s see how Florida Gov. Charlie Christ (possible VP running mate with McCain) will sick his AG Bill McCollum on the rest of them...........

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I would not be producing content in Florida after this case.

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Well now it’s the double edged sword….. Ray Guhn was found guilty of “producing content” by the State…..and also Max Hardcore was found guilty of “distributing obscene materials over the Internet and through the mail” by the Feds and all of this happened just in the State of Florida. So now kiddies do ya think anyone in the “Sunshine State” will move (permanently relocate) their operations out west or just wait it out till the jack booted thugs kick in their door and get them?

I hope the thugs take out Eli.

http://avn.com/law/articles/30943.html
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Defense attorney Jerome Mooney explains reasons for decision
By: Mark Kernes

Posted: 06/25/2008

PENSACOLA, Fla. - CashTitans.com owner Ray Guhn and his three co-defendants, Andrew Craft, Kevin Patrick Stevens and Thomas Dwyer, charged variously with obscenity, racketeering and money laundering and facing collectively up to 90 years in state prison, entered guilty pleas Tuesday, which will net each defendant much smaller sentences.


"It's the difference between the previous offer that had been made, which was 10 years, plus the risk that he was taking, which was a probable sentence of 15 to 20 years if he went to trial and got convicted, and the three years, which is a substantial difference from 15 to 20 years," explained Jerome Mooney, one of the team of First Amendment attorneys defending the quartet. "And this wasn't really an obscenity case; that's the biggest part of the problem."



For Guhn's part, obscenity was mainly one of the underpinnings for the racketeering and money laundering charges.



"The other two were prostitution and drugs," Mooney detailed, "and all the jury would have had to have done is believed two incidents of either obscenity, prostitution or drugs, so that was a huge risk. The client was adamant about there being a no-drug policy [on his sets], but there were still a number of performers who were willing to testify that they were supplied with drugs. I don't know how believable they were, but that's a risk. And there were allegations of extra-curricular pay activity, if you will."



In the almost exactly two years since Guhn was arrested, after neighbors in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties complained that Ray Guhn Productions had shot adult movies using local talent at four locations in the area, the charges and countercharges regarding what the defendants did or didn't do have flown fast and furious, with Lawrence G. Walters, another member of the defense team, once noting, "The attempt to use the prostitution statutes to censor erotic movies has not been tried in Florida before."



In the end, however, Guhn pleaded simply to "unlawful financial transactions," a lesser included offense, which according to Mooney had to do with "the CCBill money that he received for sales and transferred into his account," adding, "That looks better on his record, obviously, than racketeering."



Importantly, Mooney noted, "The primary motivating factor for accepting the deal was unrelated to whether the material itself was culpable. It would have been something they would have had to have established as part of making their case in chief, but it is not specifically outlined anywhere in the plea. That's why I don't think it will have any real impact on obscenity prosecutions in the state, because it's really not an obscenity case."



"I think I can say, without going into specific details," he continued, "there were unique factual aspects of this case which made it different from the traditional obscenity case: The drugs and the prostitution allegations. They had witnesses that would have made those claims, and the jury would have had to do not only the normal evaluation - there were so many witnesses in this case! Normally, in an obscenity case, you don't have a lot of witnesses. This case was more about the production of the material than it was about the material itself."



Indeed, prosecutor Russ Edgar had supplied a potential witness list with 130 names, and the trial, which was to have begun on July 1, was expected to take approximately three weeks.



But because the obscenity allegations were not the primary focus of most of the charges against the defendants, Walters' plan, which was announced on the front page of Tuesday's New York Times, to use Google Trends to establish the sexual interests of the four-county "community" whose "standards" would have been at issue regarding the obscenity aspects, became secondary to the other factors involved in the racketeering and money laundering charges. In fact, only Dwyer's plea involved "wholesale promotion of obscene materials," while Craft and Stevens each pled only to one count of racketeering.



The Google approach had been used only once before, in the Max Hardcore trial in Tampa earlier this month, where the defense showed that searches for the combination of terms "fisting," "porn" and "video" brought up more results than searches for University of Florida quarterback and Heismann trophy winner "Tim Tebow," or "David Cook" plus "American Idol."



At three to five years, Guhn faces the most prison time, with Craft and Stevens facing two to four years each. It is not known what sentence Dwyer faces for his promotion of obscene materials charge.



"The judge will determine the sentence, which will be at least three years but not more than five years," Mooney said of Guhn. "That will take place Aug. 11. At that time, we'll present the evidence to the judge for sentencing and see what he does. We're of course looking at the three years, and the prosecution, as we know, will argue the five years, but I get a positive sense from the judge, so we expect the sentence will be in the lower range."



All of the defendants remain free on bail.

http://pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080811/NEWS01/80811010
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A judge in Santa Rosa County sentenced a former local pornographer today to 48 months in prison.


Clinton “Ray Guhn” McCowen, 47, of Navarre, pleaded guilty in June to unlawful financial transactions.

Circuit Judge Ron Swanson also sentenced McCowan’s co-workers at today’s hearing. Andrew Craft, 40, was given 34 1/2 months in prison, while Kevin Patrick Stevens, 38, got 40 months in prison. Both previously pleaded guilty to racketeering charges.

McCowen’s mother sobbed as she hugged her husband William and court security guards placed handcuffs around her son’s wrists.

“We’re sorry that this happened,” William McCowen said outside the Santa Rosa County Courthouse. “We thought they were extreme on the punishment.”

Craft’s fiancee cried quietly in the back of the courtroom and daubed her eyes with a tissue as deputies led him from the courtroom. She did not wish to comment.

In court, Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar played videos and showed multiple still images culled from the subscription Web site. Edgar believed the site contained obscene material, not protected by the Constitution, based on the community standards of the First Judicial Circuit of Florida, which encompasses Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton Counties.

“Ray Guhn Productions” featured a Web site with between 4,000 and 8,000 subscribers who could view films featuring group sex and other genre-specific sex acts for $30 a month.

The company made more than $10 million in profits in its five years of operation, according to Edgar.

The films were produced at homes throughout Pensacola and Pace; at least five hotels in Pensacola; on the public portions of Pensacola Beach; the Blackwater River; in a moving vehicle along Interstate 10 and Interstate 110; and in wooded areas.

McCowen owned the company. Stevens, a producer and Web technician, said he left the company a year before the investigation began. Craft recruited models, scouted locations for shoots and paid the models.

It’s estimated that about 100 local men and women participated in the production of the material featured on the site. Many were expected to testify at trial before the trio reached an agreement with the prosecution

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"I think I can say, without going into specific details," he continued, "there were unique factual aspects of this case which made it different from the traditional obscenity case: The drugs and the prostitution allegations. They had witnesses that would have made those claims, and the jury would have had to do not only the normal evaluation - there were so many witnesses in this case! Normally, in an obscenity case, you don't have a lot of witnesses. This case was more about the production of the material than it was about the material itself."

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Again I say, I would be careful where you produce hardcore content. Much easier to buy it from a producer here in LA then do it yourself.

[quote Why? You got some $$$$$ to hide? (not that I'm offering, just curious)

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No. Just curious. Thanks. So, I gather, there has to be a paper trail of falsified receipts in order for the Prosecution to have a case.

Racketeering occurs when you carry on an illegal business that involves crime. i.e. a criminal organization

Money laundering occurs when you conceal the source of illegally gotten money. i.e. funneling money from your criminal organization to a non-criminal business

Hope this helps.

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maybe I am confused with the Scarface analogy

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No, you are 100% correct. IIRC there is a long sequence in Scarface where Tony brings money to a corrupt banker who charges a % to deposit it.

However, the purpose of the transactions is not to evade taxes, but to disguise the origins of the money.

Extra reading: The term money laundering was first applied to the Nixon campaign that used illegal money to fund the watergate break-ins. follow the money

http://rayguhndefensefund.com/
Ray writes:

“I am a United States Citizen, international businessman, taxpayer in good standing, patent owner, and American Patriot. It has been my privilege promoting Democracy, U.S. business and the American way of life in many parts of the World. Through the last decades, I have been involved in many business ventures including ... technological research resulting in my patented Wireless Microphone sold in 90 countries, used worldwide by Church Pastors...”

When I saw Wirless Mic and Church Pastors I immediately thought of this old fraud: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Popoff

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taxpayer in good standing

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http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008808120317

Former pornography producer Clinton "Ray Guhn" McCowen and two of his former employees watched as a prosecutor played a video showcasing their work Monday morning for a judge in Santa Rosa County.


Although the attorney turned the monitors so that only the judge and three defendants could see, four people — offended by what they heard — stood up and left when the sounds of the sex video began to play.

Afterward, McCowen, the creator of a local adult Web site, was sentenced to 48 months in state prison. The 47-year-old Navarre resident pleaded guilty in June to unlawful financial transactions for laundering money from his corporation based in Reno, Nev., through another account and eventually to his personal account in Fort Walton Beach.

McCowen's attorney argued that his client's money transfers — using money produced by the site's subscription fees — were easy to track and that he didn't believe McCowen was trying to hide anything.

Circuit Judge Ron Swanson also sentenced two of McCowen's former employees who previously pleaded guilty to single counts of racketeering. Andrew Craft, 40, was given 34½ months in prison, while Kevin Patrick Stevens, 38, received 40 months.

"Ray Guhn Productions" featured a Web site with between 4,000 and 8,000 subscribers who could view films featuring group sex and other genre-specific sex acts for $30 a month.

The company made more than $10 million in profits in its five years of operation, prosecutor Russ Edgar said.

'Intimidation'

"In this case we have local people being recruited and local people being intimidated into participating in this Web site," Edgar said. "The people participating in this were drug addicts and desperate people."

Los Angeles attorney Jerry Mooney, who represents many people in the adult entertainment industry, said the case came down to more than the nature of the material his client and the co-defendants produced.

Mooney said people in the adult entertainment business should take extra caution to separate themselves from their on-screen performers.

Sex and drugs

Edgar said McCowen and company paid on-camera performers — many of whom were prostitutes and local strippers — to attend sex parties after shoots where pain pills and cocaine were dished out.

"That sort of thing is never a good idea," Mooney said. "If you were a lumber company, would it be all right to have private parties with your cashiers? That was problematic in this case."

McCowen produced prescriptions that showed the painkillers belonged to his wife, but those prescriptions did not completely account for all of the Lortab pills investigators found in his home. In a deposition, one man told authorities that he sold McCowen some of the pills.

On location

The sex films were produced at homes throughout Pensacola and Pace; at least five hotels in Pensacola; on the public portions of Pensacola Beach; the Blackwater River; in a moving vehicle along Interstate 10 and Interstate 110; and in wooded areas.

Stevens, a producer and Web technician, said he left the company a year before the investigation began. Craft recruited models, scouted locations for shoots and paid the models.

It's estimated that about 100 local men and women participated in the production of the sexual material featured on the site.

Craft's fiancee cried quietly in the back of the courtroom and daubed her eyes with a tissue as deputies led him from the courtroom. She did not wish to comment.