Leaders object to strip club’s liquor permit renewal

Franklin is using the liquor permit process to object to the renewal of the liquor permit of the New York New York Cabaret strip club which is the focus of an ongoing criminal investigation.

All liquor permits in Franklin come up for renewal on June 1 and if there is an objection, that would need to be filed by May 1 with the Ohio Division of Liquor Control for a hearing to be held at the Warren County Administration Building in Lebanon, said Donnette Fisher, city law director.

Council approved a resolution to object to the renewal on the recommendation of Fisher and Police Chief Russ Whitman.

Fisher said the Ohio Investigative Unit’s investigation resulted in two arrests and several citations against its liquor permit last month. OIU agents, Franklin police and the Warren County Drug Task Force made the arrests on March 31. Whitman told the Journal-News that there may additional charges filed by the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office.

“Based on this, we feel the city should object,” Fisher said.

MORE: Strip club faces drug sales charges

Among the issues cited by the city include that the applicant and/or its managers are under investigation for crimes that relate to its/their fitness to operate a liquor establishment; have operated the liquor permit business in a manner that demonstrates a disregard for state laws and regulations and city ordinances; are in the habit of using alcoholic beverages or dangerous drugs to excess; the permit premises is so located with respect to the neighborhood that substantial interference with public decency, sobriety, peace or good order would result from the renewal of the permit and operation under it by the applicant; and the permit premises can be declared a nuisance pursuant to state law.

New York New York and Allison Hindy, 22, of Point Pleasant, W. Va., were charged with illegal sexually oriented activity in a sexually oriented business, a first-degree misdemeanor on March 31.

An additional charge of prostitution, a third-degree misdemeanor, was filed against Hindy on Tuesday. She was arraigned on both charges Tuesday in Franklin Municipal Court. She is free on her own recognizance. Her next court appearance will be a pre-trial conference has been scheduled for is scheduled 1 p.m. May 19.

MORE: Franklin parents plead guilty after child tries to sell toy for food

A second employee, Kaitlyn Kelly, 19, of Waynesville, was charged with knowingly obtaining, possessing or using a controlled substance/marijuana, a minor misdemeanor. She was arraigned on April 7, entered a no-contest plea and was found guilty. She paid $252 in fines and court costs.

The liquor permit was cited with the following: five counts of drug possession; three counts of drug sales; two counts of drug use; one county of nudity; one count of engaging in sexual activity; one count of solicitation of anything of value; one count of disorderly conduct; three counts of permitting removal of beer or intoxicating liquor sold for on-premise consumption; and one count of unsanitary conditions (fixtures, equipment).

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