TROY, Ohio- A Miami County judge – finding Total Xposure is a public nuisance because of sexual activity and alcohol sales – Thursday ordered the nude dancers club portion of the business closed for one year, and the forfeiture and sale of its property.

The ruling by common pleas court Judge Jeffrey Welbaum prohibits the club operators from ever allowing those acts found to be a nuisance at the Haworth Court location, next to Interstate 75, or any other location in the state where they might be doing business.

The ruling does not affect the adult bookstore portion of the Total Xposure building. Whether the ruling could be applied in other communities also was not clear, but a spokesman for the Montgomery County prosecutor said prosecutors would review the decision. Total Xposure’s owners also operate a strip club in Washington Twp.

Total Xposure’s lawyers argued any sexual contact with patrons was incidental to expression by dancers in their dancing; that the club was not a public place; and that alcohol was allowed on the premises because it was a private club. Welbaum found the club is a public place as a for-profit business in which members – who signed a membership agreement, gave identification and paid a cover charge – had no control over its operations.

The judge found the club’s posted written rules against sexual contact between dancers and patrons were ruses.

“The lewd behavior, and illegal sexual activity at Total Xposure were methodical, constant, and rampant,” Welbaum said. “When the sexual contacts between the dancers and patrons described in this decision took place there was never any movement of the dancer to the beat of the music.”

County Prosecutor Gary Nasal said Thursday that criminal charges “are imminent” as a result of the investigation into the club.

“Who, and for what charges, remain to be determined,” Nasal said.

Nasal said he expected Total Xposure to appeal. Accompanied by sheriff’s deputies, he was at the club a short time later to secure the building and property associated with the cabaret portion of the business.

“I thought that this would never happen,” Mayor Pete Jenkins said. “This is what happens when you operate illegally, and there were a lot of illegal things going on out there. É They couldn’t keep a lid on the business.”

H. Louis Sirkin, lawyer for club operator BJS No. 2 Inc., and other lawyers representing the club or owners did not return telephone calls or could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Owners Luke Liakos and Scott Conrad also operate the Diamond’s Cabaret and Hot Spot Tanning club in Washington Twp. in Montgomery County.

Whether Welbaum’s decision in Miami County will have any effect elsewhere was not clear, but Greg Flannagan, a spokesman for the Montgomery County prosecutor’s office, said prosecutors would review the Toxal Xposure ruling “and see if it applies here.”

Welbaum said eight tapes containing around 30 hours of club activities – seized in a May club raid – clearly and graphically showed a “myriad of lewd behavior and illegal sexual activity, including sexual contact between dancers and patrons in exchange for money.” The ruling said the tapes were made in fall 2002 and featured dancers introduced as nationally known porn stars. He said the tapes also showed patrons drinking alcoholic beverages although the business had no liquor license.

The judge found that the owners, Liakos and Conrad, and managers had knowledge of the activities and acquiesced to them. Liakos and Conrad own or have owned other adult-oriented businesses in the area.

Nasal and Greg Dixon, Troy’s law director, asked Welbaum in May to find the club was a public nuisance.

“I think the decision sets forth success on all of the claims for which we asked for relief,” Dixon said, noting that the city had not sought an order to close the bookstore.

The judge said early in his 22-page decision that nude dancing has protections under the First Amendment, and it was not his role to determine whether the dancing was morally acceptable.

“First, it must be said that some people find nude dancing objectionable under any circumstances. Others not only approve of nude dancing, they obviously pay to watch,” Welbaum said. “It is not the court’s function to decide whether the dancing at Total Xposure is morally acceptable or whether it is equivalent to a visit to the ballet or the human hog trough.”