Alabama Cracks Down on Sex Crimes

Woman arrested for violating 'sex toys' prohibition: Her offense? Carrying a concealed vibrating phone

Margie Johnson likes to talk on her cell phone. When she's not talking on it, it resides in one of the large pockets of her cargo pants, set on the "vibrate" mode so as not to disturb other people. At least, that's her story.

Alabama authorities busted Johnson last week for violating the state's law banning "sex toys." Johnson is believed to be the first person arrested under the law since it was declared unconstitutional by a federal judge in late 2002.

Johnson's crime is unusual in that the device in question is not a vibrator but a cell phone made by Nokia and designed to vibrate when a call is received. A manager at a local restaurant, Johnson was arrested while on break in the parking lot after police responded to an anonymous call reporting a stimulatory misdemeanor in progress.

When police arrived, Johnson was talking on the phone and smiling, an act that Anniston police officer Ross Wardsdale found incriminating.

"She was grinning like a fox in a hen house," said Wardsdale. "We seized the phone and discovered it was set to vibrate. We confiscated Ms. Johnson's pants too for evidence."

Police have released a picture of Johnson wearing the pants. The picture is illustrated with arrows showing the deep pockets that Johnson used to house the vibrating phone when it was not in use.

Police believe Johnson may have had an accomplice. "We think she kept the phone in her pocket, then had her accomplice call the phone, thereby creating the offending stimulation," explained Wardsdale. "We also believe those pants came from California. They don't sell things like that here."

Johnson's attorney, McLean Davidson, believes the arrest will be thrown out. He intends to challenge the constitutionality of the state's law in light of a federal decision handed down in late 2002 holding that it violated privacy rights.

In a related story, police troopers seized a cache of twelve dozen "clownhead" vibrators from a man trying to enter the state from the Mississippi border. The driver of the car tried to pass off the devices as "children's toys." The "clowhead" vibrators are phallicly shaped objects which feature clown heads on one end and are considered collectors items by sexual deviants. The seizure brings to over 1,200 sex toys that the Alabama highway patrol has collected since the recent crackdown on these types of devices.

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