Pornographer Max Hardcore sentenced to prison, fined

TAMPA -- Hollywood pornographer Paul F. Little today was sentenced to 3 years, 10 months in federal prison and fined $7,500 for selling and distributing his hardcore videos.

Tampa jurors convicted him in June on 10 counts of selling obscene material on the Internet and 10 counts of shipping it to Tampa through the U.S. mail.

They reached that decision after watching 8-1/2 hours of extreme pornography on a giant screen in court. At times, they winced as the adult film producer, who calls himself Max Hardcore, performed in scenes that included urinating, vomiting and violently dominating women.

After nearly two weeks of trial and roughly 12 hours of deliberations, jurors decided what they had seen went beyond the Tampa Bay region's community standards.

Before he was sentenced, Little apologized to Senior U.S. District Judge Susan C. Bucklew.

"I didn't realize I'd made a mistake," he said. "My entire life I've been trying to do the right thing by people and by the law."

Little's company, MaxWorld Entertainment Inc., was fined $75,000. Little's attorneys say he intends to appeal. He will turn himself in to authorities in California, where he lives.

Ben Montgomery's profile of Paul Little, written during his trial, appeared in the Times on June 8.

Ben Montgomery, Times staff writer

[Photo: Daniel Wallace, Times files]

*