Police raid home, seize B&D videos!

CONNECTICUT NEWS

Police Seize Woman's ComputersDecember 16, 2005 By KEN BYRON, Courant Staff Writer

ENFIELD -- Police are investigating a local woman who produced bondage and domination videos at her home and then sold memberships to customers who watched them on her website.Deputy Chief Carl Sferrazza said the Montano Road house was searched in November and that no charges have been filed against the woman, Michelle Silva. He would not say what kind of criminal activity is being investigated.
Sferrazza said investigators seized computers along with a number of other items, which he would not specify.He said police started investigating Silva early this year after neighbors complained of suspicious activity that included lots of traffic and people often coming to the house at night. Sferrazza said neighbors also saw a number of cars with out-of-state license plates.
The computers are being examined at state police forensic computer lab. Sferrazza said the outcome of that examination will determine what police do next. Silva said she obeyed all local and state laws in running the website and said the search violated her rights. "I'm upset and I'm confused," she said about the investigation.
Silva said customers bought memberships through her website, on which she calls herself Empress M, that let them watch bondage and domination videos on the site. She said she produced all the videos at her home, except for one that was made in Arizona by another producer and which she paid for. The models in the videos were paid, Silva said.
Daniel Silver, Silva's New Britain lawyer, said she has done nothing illegal and he has filed motions in Superior Court in Enfield seeking to have the computers returned to her.
"I have some basic First Amendment issues with that search," he said. "No one has been charged with a crime and the material that was seized is not contraband. The material may not be to my taste, but it is permitted."
Silva said the website was her sole source of support and the seizure of her computers has put her out of business. Although the website was still up Thursday, she said it cannot be modified until she gets her equipment back. She said she started the business in July 2004.