Michigan parents must pay after destroying son's $25K porn stash

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (FOX 2) - A federal judge has ruled a man who sued his parents for getting rid of his pornography collection in western Michigan and can seek compensation.

Federal Judge Paul Maloney ruled in favor of David Werking this week, saying that his parents, Paul and Beth Werking of Grand Haven, destroyed his collections of DVDs, VHS, and other pornographic materials in 2018.

According to the Holland Sentinel, David's original lawsuit was filed in federal court in April 2019 and said his parents destroyed a large amount of pornography he left behind when he moved out of their house at the "request of local law enforcement". He had lived in their home for ten months after a divorce before moving to Muncie, Indiana.

The Holland Sentinel cited emails between David and his father that there a collection of 12 moving boxes "full of pornography plus two boxes of sex toys." He also included an itemized list of destroyed property, including 1,605 titles of pornographic DVDs and VHS tapes plus 50 sex toys and paraphernalia.

He originally valued them at almost $29,000, saying some of the items were irreplaceable. He later amended the value to $25,000.

"Frankly, David, I did you a big favor by getting rid of all this stuff for you," Werking’s father wrote in an email, according to Holland Sentinel. 

The paper reported that his parents were not willing to transport the collection to Indiana and were uncomfortable with it in their home. They admitted to destroying the property.

The judge ruled "there is no question" that the property belonged to Werking and that his parents had no right to destroy it. Maloney told both sides to file briefs on the financial value of the collection.

The Werking family has until Feb. 16, 2021, to file written submission on the amount of money owed.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.