LAYTON — Prosecutors have announced a settlement involving a novelty gift shop in the Layton Hills Mall that was raided by police over sexually explicit items.

The deal between the Davis County Attorney's Office, the city of Layton and Spencer Gifts LLC averts a possible criminal prosecution over the novelty store's display of adult-oriented items in a store often frequented by minors.

"We believe they're going to make a good-faith effort to comply with the law," Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings told the Deseret News late Tuesday.

Police raided the Spencer Gifts store in the Layton Hills Mall in February, seizing more than a dozen boxes of items that investigators said potentially violated Utah laws on dealing materials harmful to a minor and indecent public displays. Layton police described the items as sexually oriented games, food and toys.

In the months since then, Rawlings and Layton prosecutors have been negotiating with Spencer Gifts. The items for sale are not illegal but may still run afoul of state laws if the items are available for purchase by or on display to minors.

"There would have been a criminal prosecution had Spencer's not agreed to make changes to their business model in their Layton store to satisfy Utah law," he said.

The terms of the settlement will not be disclosed, Rawlings said, pursuant to a deal between Layton, the Davis County Attorney's Office and Spencer Gifts. Officials from the New Jersey-based company did not return an after-hours call seeking comment Tuesday.

At the Spencer Gifts inside the Layton Hills Mall on Tuesday night, some of the items, typically bought for bachelor and bachelorette parties, were in a corner sequestered from the rest of the store by a bead curtain. Because of First Amendment rights dealing with commercial speech and obscene materials, city officials and prosecutors cannot dictate how any items will be displayed.

"It's not up to us to run their business for them, it's only up to us to inform them," Rawlings said. "How they comply will be up to them, and they have committed to us they will."

He praised Spencer Gifts' corporate officials for their willingness to work with Davis County authorities to meet local community standards. But Layton police will continue to check on the shop to ensure that it is in compliance with state laws.

The case has prompted other complaints to the Davis County Attorney's Office about other businesses that may be selling items that callers claim are "inappropriate" for minors. However, Rawlings has said those complaints do not meet the requirements for prosecution under the law.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com