Louisiana State Police Trooper Doug Pierrelee told XBiz that Daniel Smart was making upwards of $40,000 a month from videos sold through his Cybertainment website, raking in more than $2 million over seven years.
There were just a few problems, starting with the fact that Smart had neglected to declare the income or pay taxes and was shipping banned bestiality and simulated snuff films throughout the country and overseas.
“We got a tip back in December,” Pierrelee told XBiz. “Someone emailed us because they recognized a girl on the site and thought she was in real trouble.”
Pierrelee said detectives immediately launched an investigation and were able to locate the woman from a fake snuff film. When they discovered she was in no imminent danger, they decided to dig deeper into the operation.
“We could have arrested him right away on obscenity charges, but we saw he was shipping this stuff all over the world and we knew we could get him on federal charges as well, so we put together a mini task force,” Pierrelee said.
By the time Smart’s house was raided, the state police were joined by Shreveport police, U.S. Marshals, U.S. Customs agents and postal inspectors.
Inside the house, they found “rows and rows of DVDs and video tapes,” according to Pierrelee. Along with the illegal cache, state police also seized computers, duping machines, camcorders, bank records, 25 bowling balls, several Rolex watches, two sports cars — an Acura NSX and Lexus 430 — and other luxury items.
“This guy was spending it as fast as it was coming in,” Pierrelee said.
Smart faces federal and state charges of obscenity, mail fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. Cybertainment.com has been shut down.
Smart had used the online persona “Kinky Saline” when communicating with customers. “He’s kinky, all right, but he ain’t no Saline,” Pierrelee said. “There may be some guys out there who thought they were talking to a woman named Saline online and would be surprised to find out who they were really talking to. Let me put it this way: It’s not a pretty site.”
Authorities are now trying to find out whether Smart produced the videos or they were produced by a second party.
