Judge orders Greenville Platinum Plus to temporarily close.
shadowcat
Atlanta suburb
GREENVILLE, S.C. —A judge has made a decision on an Upstate strip club that asked to stay open while a lawsuit and criminal investigation continued.
Judge Charles Simmons ruled Wednesday that Platinum Plus will be temporarily closed until a trial decision on the lawsuit, or a modification of the order by the court.
The court decision indicated that if the club opens before the decision is final on the lawsuit, Platinum Plus could be found in contempt of court and owners would be subject to fines and imprisonment.
Solicitor Walt Wilkins filed the lawsuit on behalf of the State of South Carolina against the owners of Platinum Plus after an undercover investigation by the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office
Sheriff’s office officials said an undercover investigator made at least 15 different visits to Platinum Plus and witnessed lewd acts more than two dozen times.
According to the lawsuit, eight employees of Platinum Plus supplied a statement saying there was prostitution at the strip club. Those statements claim that strippers had sex with customers and with other strippers, strippers performed oral sex on customers and customers performed oral sex on strippers.
A "champagne room" hostess provided a statement saying that she witnessed strippers exposing their genitals more than 100 times.
The lawsuit says employees saw strippers frequently fired for engaging in sexual acts, only to be rehired “within a week or so.”
After the initial arrests on March 27, managers allegedly told employees that the arrests were, “not a big deal and everything would go back to normal in a couple of weeks,” according to the lawsuit.
According to court documents, managers demanded higher “tip-outs” from strippers caught in sexual acts and ignored the sex acts after receiving the money.
The lawsuit also claims that managers had sexual relations with strippers in lieu of them paying nightly “tip-outs,” and the general manager didn’t fire one employee after she performed sexual acts.
Wilkins filed an injunction last Friday asking that Platinum Plus be temporarily shut down until the club resolves the criminal charges that have been brought against it.
Surveillance video of one of those visits and an alleged illegal act between two female dancers was played in the courtroom for the judge.
On Wednesday, the judge gave Platinum Plus 48 hours to shut down under the temporary injunction.
There will be a news conference Thursday with Solicitor Walt Wilkins and Sheriff Steve Loftis at 1 p.m. to discuss the judge's order.
Note: Fuckers.
Judge Charles Simmons ruled Wednesday that Platinum Plus will be temporarily closed until a trial decision on the lawsuit, or a modification of the order by the court.
The court decision indicated that if the club opens before the decision is final on the lawsuit, Platinum Plus could be found in contempt of court and owners would be subject to fines and imprisonment.
Solicitor Walt Wilkins filed the lawsuit on behalf of the State of South Carolina against the owners of Platinum Plus after an undercover investigation by the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office
Sheriff’s office officials said an undercover investigator made at least 15 different visits to Platinum Plus and witnessed lewd acts more than two dozen times.
According to the lawsuit, eight employees of Platinum Plus supplied a statement saying there was prostitution at the strip club. Those statements claim that strippers had sex with customers and with other strippers, strippers performed oral sex on customers and customers performed oral sex on strippers.
A "champagne room" hostess provided a statement saying that she witnessed strippers exposing their genitals more than 100 times.
The lawsuit says employees saw strippers frequently fired for engaging in sexual acts, only to be rehired “within a week or so.”
After the initial arrests on March 27, managers allegedly told employees that the arrests were, “not a big deal and everything would go back to normal in a couple of weeks,” according to the lawsuit.
According to court documents, managers demanded higher “tip-outs” from strippers caught in sexual acts and ignored the sex acts after receiving the money.
The lawsuit also claims that managers had sexual relations with strippers in lieu of them paying nightly “tip-outs,” and the general manager didn’t fire one employee after she performed sexual acts.
Wilkins filed an injunction last Friday asking that Platinum Plus be temporarily shut down until the club resolves the criminal charges that have been brought against it.
Surveillance video of one of those visits and an alleged illegal act between two female dancers was played in the courtroom for the judge.
On Wednesday, the judge gave Platinum Plus 48 hours to shut down under the temporary injunction.
There will be a news conference Thursday with Solicitor Walt Wilkins and Sheriff Steve Loftis at 1 p.m. to discuss the judge's order.
Note: Fuckers.
28 comments
The owners should have gotten out in front of the story, as Jim and Artie Mitchell once did. They should have closed the club themselves, saying that they don't want any of their customers to suffer a heart attack because of an unlawful arrest. Then they could have posted, "For show times call Walt Wilkins".
I still don't understand what these PP owners must know that other club owners don't. Why do so many people like their clubs over and above others?
Could it just be that they hire more dancers, making them more competitive and less likely to follow any rules except their own?
This precedent is negative for all UHM strip clubs, particularly the total disregard for due process when dealing with criminal allegations.
Has anyone checked into any local motels and found takeout already there waiting? Has anyone had any problems with people there to visit Bob Jones University?
SJG
With the laws the way they are, these sorts of businesses have to be considered expendable.
Again, the real problem with this is the complete disregard for due process and the rules of evidence.
SJG
Anybody know about the other clubs in Greenville? They might be running scared but this could be a great opportunity for them especially if this is just a land grab.
My line of thinking was that South Carolina is so small that it might scare all the clubs in the state...but it turns out there aren't any SCs anywhere close to Augusta anyway - and I've read the reviews about the ones in Augusta, so that's not an option. Maybe I should just have family fun (sigh) and not worry about it...yeah right: I'll hit Follies and/or Pin Ups that Thursday on the way.
Then they talk about Goose Busters. A dog looking like a predator and a remote controlled litle speed boat scaring away the geese. Aparently some neighborhoods have too many geese. They were going to shoot them but some wanted to save th geese. Lccal geese lost the will to go back north and just stay here year round. They are lazy southern geese now. Who you going to call? Geese Busters.
We just need soliticer busters now.
http://www.wyff4.com/news/sheriff-shares…
Now in Santa Clara County and in San Mateo County it has been done. They see such women as a societal menace. It is really disturbing.
But in San Francisco the authorities and the newspapers would never dream of doing such. They know that it is wrong to try and stigmatize or place at public risk the women who do sex work. So if the authorities tried to publicize such information, the newspapers and the public would eviscerate them.
Second, we still have no criminal trial. The vast majority of the evidence discussed would not be admissible in a criminal trial as it is either hearsay or interpretation. If a girl gets kinda silly and has sex with a guy, that does not mean they are engaging in prostitution. Prostitution is defined as the making of a contract. Usually there will only be two people who are party to this, and it better not have started with the one who is a cop.
So if these defendants are willing to go thru a jury trial and if they have money for capable counsel, then the chances of conviction are very low.
But these guys are trying to close the club before these trials have occurred and before the evidence has been held to such standards.
The Prosecution knows that in prostitution cases the defendant will usually either plead guilty, or just split. This is what they are counting on.
That they should be able to close the business by such lack of due process is wrong, and the media should be pointing this out.
SJG
I have trouble recognizing people. I think maybe I saw one girl before. I probably have seen others walking around but mug shots are harder to identify and remember people.
It makes sense that the dancers I'm most famaliar with were not involved in any charges. I never saw any prostitution in the last several years I've visited. You don't think people suspected me of being an undercover agent who didn't spend much do you?
The average customer in the club does not spend much and does not even buy dances. I see people just sitting around watching and not tipping. They are the majority of the crowd or were on weekend nights when it was busy. So the average amount spent at $37 I can believe. I spent less than that the last two times I visited. I never tipped two dollars and certainly not 7 for a beer. I usually only got one or two though and got it myself.
See you guys later.