More trouble for the Greenville Platinum Plus.
shadowcat
Atlanta suburb
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) - A prosecutor wants a judge to close a Greenville strip club for another six-month period and send the owner to jail because it did not follow a deal to stop nudity and simulated sex acts.
Solicitor Walt Wilkins is asking for criminal sanctions against Platinum Plus that would include a $280,000 fine and at least four months in jail for the club’s owner.
“While the solicitor recognizes such penalties are strong, lesser penalties have previously failed and the challenges to this court’s authority by the defendants have been serial and substantial,” Wilkins wrote in court papers obtained by The Greenville News (http://grnol.co/293PbXj ).
Wilkins’ request came after two undercover officers saw dancers remove pasties over their nipples and engage in a number of erotic acts banned by the agreement that allowed the club to reopen at the beginning of this year after a different six-month closing.
But a lawyer for the club said the dancers who violated the rules were fired, other dancers were warned about what they can and can’t do, so the solicitor’s complaint should be dismissed.
“There is not a scintilla of evidence that either defendant knew about the alleged violations, and even without knowing the solicitor’s intent, the defendants terminated the relationship with the two dancers who the state alleges were the worst violators,” attorney Tommy Goldstein wrote.
Wilkins said the club owner knows exactly what is going on. He also accused Platinum Plus of steering dancers and customers to areas of the building that aren’t fully covered by a video system the club was required to install as part of the deal.
The club was notified of the problem in January and offered to stop using a booth that was not within range of the video system. But when the undercover officers came in two months later, a dancer tried to sit them in the booth, even though none of the other booths were being used, Wilkins said.
Solicitor Walt Wilkins is asking for criminal sanctions against Platinum Plus that would include a $280,000 fine and at least four months in jail for the club’s owner.
“While the solicitor recognizes such penalties are strong, lesser penalties have previously failed and the challenges to this court’s authority by the defendants have been serial and substantial,” Wilkins wrote in court papers obtained by The Greenville News (http://grnol.co/293PbXj ).
Wilkins’ request came after two undercover officers saw dancers remove pasties over their nipples and engage in a number of erotic acts banned by the agreement that allowed the club to reopen at the beginning of this year after a different six-month closing.
But a lawyer for the club said the dancers who violated the rules were fired, other dancers were warned about what they can and can’t do, so the solicitor’s complaint should be dismissed.
“There is not a scintilla of evidence that either defendant knew about the alleged violations, and even without knowing the solicitor’s intent, the defendants terminated the relationship with the two dancers who the state alleges were the worst violators,” attorney Tommy Goldstein wrote.
Wilkins said the club owner knows exactly what is going on. He also accused Platinum Plus of steering dancers and customers to areas of the building that aren’t fully covered by a video system the club was required to install as part of the deal.
The club was notified of the problem in January and offered to stop using a booth that was not within range of the video system. But when the undercover officers came in two months later, a dancer tried to sit them in the booth, even though none of the other booths were being used, Wilkins said.
9 comments
SJG
http://doxyspotting.com/?p=86215
You know something was up after reading agents investigated the club for a whole year and offers of 100 to 200 dollars were not successful in getting any sex from the dancers. They had to up the amounts to 2000 per visit to get dancers to break the law.
I heard a dancer tell me for 2000 a male straight customer would be willing to give a bj.
So many cheap people around here apparently. I used to know someone from work who apparently thought all strippers were prostitutes. He went to Platinum with 5k in his pocket looking for sex. He told me he got up there, found a girl willing to do a lap dance, then after a dance or two told her let's cut to the chase, I have 5K in my pocket. How about we head over to a hotel? He told me she said you have the wrong girl. He came back home with his 5k disappointed. This is the same club agents manipulated spending up to 2k a visit to get people to break the law.
I think I could shut down Burger King, Walmart, Wendy's, retail outlets, and all kinds of businesses if I could routinely visit and spend 2k a visit if I managed to get some employees to do simulated sex acts and had a whole year to crack people. Was the club targeted? Obviously. Someone did get killed by a bouncer but apparently the soliticor didn't know whomever.
I used to spend a lot more in dances and the club probably generated over a million dollars a year in income and lots of extra tax revenue for the city as people visited. That's history now. Greenville taxpayers should be able to easily pay the difference. I did hear many incumbents in Greenville were voted out of office. I don't know if that will change anything. At it's peak, I bet over 50,000 visits were made to the club per year which the city cut out. If the club generated a million or two million per year, then the Greenville soliticor cut out an estimated 3 or 4 million in income to the city of Greenville by successfully attacking the club when you add in the multiplier effect of all the business. If the soliticor thinks he is doing a good deed, I might be a witness against him in the afterlife. I believe he cost a lot of jobs and caused a lot of hardship. That's bad. My 4 cents ramble.
I would like an all nude club that was byob. I'd visit even with cameras if it was all nude and byob but as is now, nipples are covered. I haven't visited in over a year.