San Bernardino, a city perhaps best known for meth labs and the Hells Angeles, has been bleeding money for over a decade in its “tilting against windmills” fight against the Flesh Club, which bills itself as “Southern California’s Ultimate Showgirl Experience.” [Also, according to their website they were “Voted #1 in Nude Lap Dances,” no doubt quite an honor in their industry.]

While these types of fights play themselves out in communities across the country (perhaps most notoriously in San Diego where officials were bribed), the tussle in San Bernardino has taken almost comic proportions.

The fight has been going on 12 years and has cost the city $587,496 in legal fees alone. In addition to this, the relatively poor city may be on the hook for a $1.4 million jury award it owes the club (subject to appeal).

The City has hired private detectives to go undercover (pun unintended) though some of them were incapable of observing the strict limits put on what types of activities they were allowed to engage in as part of the investigation.

Duane Minard, a private investigator and former Riverside County sheriff’s deputy, was hired to find out what services the club’s women would offer for cash. According to his court testimony, Minard went into a VIP room with a stripper for a private $120 dance. By the time it finished he had shelled out $800 for sex.

“I told him when they start asking for money, excuse yourself and skedaddle,” said Joseph Arias, the lawyer representing the city against the club. “But he goes out and gets more money then goes back in. When I asked him why [he engaged in sex while working for the city], he said, ‘It was the heat of the moment.’ ”

City officials noted that he would not be reimbursed with taxpayer money for what he spent on sex.

Given the incredible problems that San Bernardino faces (particularly that the city’s numerous meth labs don’t pay taxes), perhaps this is one fight it should walk away from.

tags: san bernardino strip club taxes

This entry was posted on Monday, February 26th, 2007 at 8:34 am by Insider and is filed under Your Tax Dollars In Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.