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Houston Files Lawsuit Against Strip Club

Court Hearing Set For May 30

POSTED: Tuesday, May 13, 2003
UPDATED: 8:39 am CDT May 14, 2003

The City of Houston has filed a lawsuit against a strip club, accusing it of peddling sex and cocaine through its strippers, the News2Houston Investigators reported Tuesday night in an exclusive story.

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But Houston police said that despite the legal action that was put into motion last month, they found that the dancers were still busy selling dope to their customers.

Weeks before a recent police raid, The Investigators took hidden cameras into the Glamour Girls, 14428 Hempstead Highway, in northwest Houston.

The hidden video showed the dancers hard at work on the main stage, but police said that most of the drugs were sold elsewhere -- in a special room of the club.

Undercover officers blended in with other customers at the club and within 10 minutes of sitting down, one officer said that he was able to buy a bag of cocaine and arrange for sex for $400.

"She bought the dope and brought it to me," an undercover officer said. "She also had the condoms. We were going to go back to the VIP room."

Police said that they knew they would arrest the stripper for prostitution, but they had to test the bag to make sure they could get a felony cocaine-trafficking charge.

"Yep, She's good," an officer said after testing the suspected cocaine. "That was a $20 baggie. She was offering $20, $40 and $60 bags."

As the Houston Police Department's vice squad raid team moved into action, two officers were assigned to quickly capture a man accused of passing out the cocaine for the strippers to sell, The Investigators reported.

Police said that the man kept the bags in two cigarette boxes.

"They were going to customers," Sgt. David Lovett said.

Lovett said that he sent seven undercover officers during the raid that night -- one of whom watched how the drugs flowed from an employee to the customers.

"He watched the female go to the individual we have under arrest and stay with him a few minutes, then return to the undercover officer and she delivered powder cocaine," Lovett said.

The Investigators said that they have obtained months worth of police reports from the strip club, and time after time, cocaine arrests show up inside the club.

But the lawsuit filed by the city showed an even bigger pattern, The Investigators reported.

The city wants to shut the club down, saying its owners "knowingly allowed narcotics and prostitution activity to occur on the property."

Four pages of the lawsuit list the employees arrested for drugs over 1 ½ years -- 22 convicted, 11 are pending in court and one case was dismissed.

During the raid, the dancers were corralled on the main stage as police figured out which ones would be going to jail.

The strip club's lawyer said that it was these individual employees that are to blame and not their bosses.

"These owners have taken every step they can to stop any illegal activity from going on inside their premises," attorney Chris Tritico said.

Six dancers were loaded up into a police van during the raid, most of whom were charged with offering sex in the VIP room, authorities said.

The price? Anywhere from $250 to $400 in the same room where police said cocaine was the big moneymaker.

"I think it's very common," Lovett said. "We have 20 or so different clubs, and you have a handful, four or five, that are just going to be repeat offenders."

A court hearing is set for May 30, where the city is expected to convince a judge that the recent police raid is a further sign that the club is fostering the cocaine business.

Police said that they are now investigating several other clubs, where officers said drugs are being sold.

If you have a news tip for the Investigators, drop them an e-mail or call their tipline at (713) 223-TIPS (8477).

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