Pure Bliss owner Greg Sakas and his clerk Michael Squires were cleared of three Class 3 misdemeanors Monday in Craven County Superior Court. District Court Judge Peter Mack took just three and a half hours to dismiss the charges filed by the city of New Bern. Over a year ago, Sakas was charged with selling Rush, which is a tape head cleaner also classified as a controlled substance that could provide a minor buzz if inhaled. He was also charged with operating more than one adult business in the same building; in addition, he was charged with operating without a license. 

Sakas said that his establishment had to have adult DVDs, tapes and magazines generate less than 50 percent of the overall sales. Although his adult content did make up more than 50 percent of his annual sales, the content that pushed the sales over its legal limit included novelties and lingerie. Since both novelties and lingerie are not classified as the same as X-rated DVDs and magazines, the adult store in North Carolina was not in violation of any laws.

Sakas said the police treated him like a drug dealer by having him followed and by setting up surveillance teams outside the store. Sakas said they also illegally raided his store on two separate occasions in May and September of last year and that they confiscated more than a thousand of his DVDs.

The Pure Bliss store owner now plans to continue to file the federal lawsuit he started in April due to the alleged unlawful confiscation of his merchandise. The police department also failed to give back all of the products they initially took during the raids.