Pornographer Given 4-Year Prison Sentence

LAS VEGAS — Pornographer Reuben Sturman was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday under a plea bargain that allows him to avoid a second trial on racketeering and pornography charges.

The 68-year-old Sturman, who had successfully fought four prior prosecutions, was taken into custody after the sentencing before U.S. District Judge Lloyd George.

Federal marshals said Sturman would be taken to the Boron federal prison in California to serve his sentence.

Sturman, from Cleveland, was sentenced under a plea-bargain agreement that called for the four-year prison term and a $1-million fine. In addition, Sturman agreed to forfeit his interests in more than a dozen adult bookstores, movie theaters and buildings in Las Vegas, San Francisco and Reno.

The term is to run concurrently with a 10-year prison term he received in 1990 in Cleveland for tax evasion. That sentence is under appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sturman’s co-defendant in the case, Stanley Loeb, also pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of obscene materials and was sentenced Wednesday to spend two years on probation and pay $10,000 in fines.