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shadowcat

Atlanta suburb

P.G. officials target undercover strip clubs

By:Ben Giles | 10/21/11 8:05 PM
Examiner Staff Writer Follow Him @ben_giles.

Legislation being considered by the Prince George's County Council would give the police more authority to root out and shut down clandestine businesses operating as shops by day and nude dancing clubs at night.
Councilman Eric Olson, D-College Park, introduced a bill that redefines the county's definition of adult entertainment and requires businesses seeking to comply with the new code to participate in a public hearing.

The tactic would place clubs under the scrutiny of the surrounding community, Olson said.

Officials don't know how many illegal strip clubs are in Prince George's County, but rumors fly of barbershops and auto repairs stores bringing in nude dancers late at night, according to Deputy Police Chief Kevin Davis.

Clubs are most often discovered when police are investigating late-night crimes, such as a recent shooting and stabbing at the Family Restaurant in Temple Hills.

Investigators at the scene discovered nude dancing inside the restaurant, police said.

Police shut down Family Restaurant under the dance hall bill, passed this summer to help officials remove businesses with violent reputations. Davis said Olson's legislation could have a similar effect.

"This bill will attempt to identify the unknowns, and the unknowns are the ones giving us problems," he said.

A collection of law enforcement, attorneys and county agencies are in the midst of investigating a few suspected clubs, including Puzzles Event Center, a Suitland store police have had their eye on for about two years, according to Maj. James Harper, commander at Oxon Hill Station.

Inspectors sent into Puzzles several times say the venue is a strip club, though it has two permits: one as a auditorium, the other as a movie production studio.

Owner Terrance Williams said Puzzles is used as a film studio for uncut rap videos, which regularly feature naked dancers. The facility is rented out to artists and is not open to the public, he said.

"I have cameras rolling at all times because we videotape everything we do," Williams said. "I'm not a strip club and I'm not a dance hall."

Posts online at the website Ultimate Strip Club list show reviews of Puzzles dancers written as recently as Oct. 16. The site bills the venue as a topless, bring-your-own-beer club with VIP rooms for lap dances.

The website lists Puzzles' address and Williams' phone number. Williams said he doesn't know how the information got online.

Harper, who called Williams' explanation a fabrication, said it's frustrating to watch businesses blatantly flout county laws.

"There's due process, but why should you be given a warning when you know what you should be operating as?" Harper said. "It's not like it's a surprise to you."