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His Parents Destroyed His Porn Collection. He Got So Upset, He Sued

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Kevin Daley Supreme Court correspondent
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  • A 40-year-old man is suing his parents for destroying his pornography collection, which was so large it filled a dozen moving boxes. 
  • His parents discovered the materials after he was removed from their home for unspecified reasons. 
  • He is seeking a $90,000 compensatory award in federal court.

A 40-year-old Indiana man is suing his parents in federal court for destroying his gargantuan collection of pornography, the value of which he placed at $30,000.

In the interest of privacy, The Daily Caller News Foundation has chosen not to publish the lawsuit itself, or identify those involved.

“We counted twelve moving boxes full of pornography plus two boxes of sex toys as you call them,” the defendant wrote in a January 2018 email to his son, the plaintiff. “We began that day the process of destroying them and it took quite a while to do so.”

Among the plaintiff’s materials were videos depicting bestiality, incest, rape, torture and urination. An itemized list of titles, sex toys and other possessions appended to the lawsuit runs 17 pages.

The dispute began in August 2017, when the plaintiff was expelled from the family home for unspecified reasons. Documents appended to the lawsuit indicate the plaintiff was removed from the premises by local authorities. The plaintiff lived with his parents for a 10-month period following his divorce. He was intermittently homeless before moving in with the defendants.

Email traffic exchanged between the parties shows that the defendants discovered and destroyed the pornography collection shortly after the plaintiff was barred from the house. Sporadic communication continued through 2018.

“I find your whole attitude toward women to be very disturbing,” the defendant wrote in a January 2018 email. “Women are not objects for you to masturbate with, they are people created by God just as you were and should be treated with respect and dignity.”

“Believe it or not, one reason for why I destroyed your porn was for your own mental and emotional heath,” the defendant added. “I would have done the same if I had found a kilo of crack cocaine. Someday, I hope you will understand.” (RELATED: Police Respond To ‘Pounding Noises’ In Oregon Bathroom And Find Unexpected Culprit)

For his part, the plaintiff claimed his parents were distorting the sequence of events. By his telling, the plaintiff shared his intentions to bring pornography into the family home over dinner in 2015. Whatever moral outrage his parents felt at the material, the plaintiff continued, destruction of property was not the proper course.

“You can’t just go around destroying people’s stuff that you don’t like or agree with,” he wrote in a March 2018 email to his parents. “We live in a civilized society. If you had a problem with my belongings, you should have stated that at the time and I would have gone elsewhere. Instead you chose to keep quiet and behave vindictively.”

“I hope destroying the porn felt really good,” he added. “Was it worth a son?”

An email dated March 12, 2018 from the plaintiff to the defendant. (Screenshot)

An email dated March 12, 2018 from the plaintiff to the defendant. (Screenshot)

The plaintiff says the value of several titles is difficult to calculate, since they were produced on VHS or other outmoded forms of media by studios which no longer exist.

Elsewhere in their communications, the defendants revealed that the plaintiff was reprimanded in high school for distributing pornography. Minors were allegedly among his clientele. Those activities continued in college, culminating with his dismissal from a religiously-affiliated college.

Though an investigation followed, a supplemental police report indicates local prosecutors decided not to pursue a criminal case due to lack of evidence.

The plaintiff retained private counsel on or about January 2016. He is seeking nearly $90,000 in compensation under a state treble damages provision, which allows plaintiffs to recoup thrice the value of actual damages.

The lawsuit was docketed on April 10, after the plaintiff sought a private settlement. The case has been assigned to a federal magistrate in Michigan.

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