Passion Police Arrest Sex Toys Saleswoman

B U R L E S O N, Texas, Jan. 22 -- Like many saleswomen before her, 43-year-old Joanne Webb made a living by toting her plastic products from house to house for little get-togethers with women interested in making their everyday lives better and easier.

Webb, who is married with children, says she found a real sense of accomplishment in her lucrative career … until she was arrested by two undercover narcotics investigators.

"I was in shock. My heart was racing. I was in fear," said Webb on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America. "I thought, 'How could this be?' "

Webb, a former elementary school teacher, was arrested on charges that she broke a Texas obscenity law that bans the sale of items "designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs."

Webb says the investigators, who had posed as a couple, had her arrested after she helped them choose a few sex toys to purchase through Passion Parties, a company she joined in June. She now faces a year in prison and a $4,000 fine if convicted.

Webb is just one of many women — housewives, grandmothers and mothers — who have joined Passion Parties in an effort to make a living while educating ladies on how to spice up their sex life. She distinguishes the so-called passion parties from Tupperware parties with the phrase "they burp, we buzz," but she says her parties are just as innocent as those featuring food storage items.

"I saw this as great opportunity to help educate women, help encourage them to open up the lines of communication between them and their partners and be able to enhance their relationships," explains Webb, who organizes the parties in and around Burleson, Texas, 15 miles south of Fort Worth.

Webb's husband of 20 years, Chris, says his wife's arrest is an outrage.

"I'm proud of Joanne beyond belief," he says. "I just see her as a national hero … standing up for other women in her business, standing up for women and couples around the country, even around the world to express themselves and love one another."