Another Memphis club gets shut down.

Strip club Showgirls closed for drug dealing, prostitution

Posted September 11, 2011 at 11:41 a.m.

A second Memphis strip club in less than a week has been temporarily shut down for alleged drug sales and prostitution.

On Friday, Memphis Police and the Shelby County District Attorney General's office closed Showgirls, at 3880 Lamar, as a public nuisance.

Four dancers at Showgirls were also arrested Friday night on prostitution charges. Three of them were additionally charged with possession of illegal drugs.

Earlier in the week, Babes of Babylon was shut down -- for the second time in a year -- as a nuisance based on similar allegations.

“The allegations of criminal activity at 'Showgirls' leaves us no choice but to seek permanent closure,” said District Attorney General Amy Weirich. “Everything from drug sales to employing unlicensed security personnel illustrates the owner's open defiance of the law.”

The owners of the property on Lamar are listed as Culbreath Land Company, Inc.

The nuisance petition asked a Shelby County court to declare the club a public nuisance, and seeks a permanent injunction against its operation.

The owners are to appear before Judge Larry Potter in General Sessions Court Division 14 on Monday to respond to the allegations.

The owners of Babes of Babylon, at 1575 Brooks, are to appear at the same time to answer similar allegations.

Members of the Memphis Police Organized Crime Unit observed numerous instances in which dancers at Showgirls solicited money for prohibited sex acts for cash, and observed employees making drug deals inside the club, according to the District Attorney General's office.

Dancers would at times offer sex for money in the “VIP” section of the club or would agree to leave with undercover officers.

On Tuesday, authorities closed Babes, following a five month investigation during which undercover OCU officers allegedly witnessed dancers performing various sex acts for money.

The Sept. 6 petition to close the Babes contains detailed prostitution and drug activity in the club.

“We shut them down in December, reached an agreement of what is expected of them, and they have chosen to ignore what the law requires of them,” Weirich said. “The prostitution and drug use has not stopped and we will not stop trying to rid the community of this nuisance.”

Memphis Police Director Toney Armstrong said his department “will continue to aggressively investigate all establishments who choose not to operate within the parameters of the law.”