Charleston- Police this month charged seven employees of a North Charleston strip club with exposing their private parts in a lascivious manner.
Huh? Isn't that the whole point?
The problem, North Charleston police said, is that nude dancers crossed the line at the Landing Strip club on Remount Road by performing sexual acts with patrons while other staff members looked on.
The arrests followed a two-month undercover investigation in which officers posed as everyday oglers, er, patrons at the club. Police launched the probe after receiving information about illegal activities occurring there, said Spencer Pryor, a police spokesman.
On May 12, police watched a female patron strip and begin kissing and fondling a nude dancer on stage. The patron's boyfriend then performed a sex act on both women as a club disc jockey rooted them on, according to arrest affidavits.
The same night, a dancer in an after-hours room allowed a male patron to perform oral sex on her, police said. Then, on May 17, a nude dancer wrapped her legs around the shoulders of an undercover detective and pulled his head into her crotch several times, an arrest affidavit stated.
Earlier this month, a 22-year-old stripper invited an undercover police officer into a private room and asked him to pay $175 for a dance. The woman is accused of stripping, touching the detective in a sexual manner and offering to have intercourse with him, an arrest affidavit stated.
Charged with one count of exposure of private parts in a lewd and lascivious manner are dancers Gayle 'Butterfly' Carter, 24, of Summerville; Elizabeth Louise Salter, 27, of North Charleston; and Melissa Ann Smith, 22, of Summerville. Facing three counts of the same charge are club manager Isaac Vernon Brown Jr., 30, of Summerville; manager Wesley Ray Amos, 41, of Summerville; disc jockey Bradley James Harper, 31, of Summerville; and doorman/disc jockey David Wayne Bourne, 46, a retired North Charleston Fire Department battalion chief, police said.
Magistrate Linda Lombard set bail at $2,000 for each of the dancers and $6,000 for each of the other employees.
Pryor said police plan to meet with representatives of other city departments to discuss other possible violations at the club.
Tommy Goldstein, a lawyer for the Landing Strip, said the club's owners don't condone illegal activity on the premises and will take appropriate action if such incidents took place. He said the owners went through a lengthy and difficult process to get permission to open a sexually oriented business, and they don't want to jeopardize their ability to operate the 2-year-old club.
'That doesn't make economic sense,' he said. 'We try to be good citizens, and we want to get along with the city of North Charleston.'
Goldstein said it was unclear if the business would open Friday because of damage police caused during their search of the club. He said police took apart an air conditioner, broke several doors and damaged a stage during their search.
Police officials said they were unaware of any damage done to the club during the operation, but they encouraged the owner to file a claim with the city if any occurred.
