Old Forge wants to regulate the sex business. Strip club says it’s being targeted unfairly

February 20th. Nearly two months after a woman was shot dead in the parking lot of the Old Forge strip club, the city council will issue an ordinance requiring the club and its employees to pay for a license to operate and operate.

The owners of the Diamond Club on North Keyser Avenue have said they are being unfairly targeted and threatened with legal action.

“This is made up as a special attack on us – we’re going to fight back,” co-owner Steven Krauss said of the proposed ruling. “If you want to go to war, we will go to war.”

Krauss said he and partner Greg Jaffes met with Police Chief Jason DuBernas and Christopher Hart, a zoning and code enforcement officer, about a week after the January 1 shooting to discuss the issues. They agreed to make changes, including installing additional lighting and closing at 2 am instead of later.

They thought it solved the problems.

Contacted on Monday, they said they were unaware of the attempt to regulate their business until a Times-Tribune reporter called.

In a public notice published in the newspaper on Feb. 14, the city announced that it would introduce a regulation aimed at regulating sexually oriented businesses and employees, a category that council member Michael Lettieri said covers one business: the Diamond Club. The Council will consider the decision at a meeting at 19:00 on Tuesday.

“The continuation of unregulated activities of such sexually oriented businesses will be detrimental” to the health and safety of the area, the ruling said. The aim is to “minimize and control the adverse side effects” of sexually oriented businesses such as adult bookstores, video stores and nightclubs characterized by live sex performances.

He cites unspecified “statistics and studies” that such effects include prostitution, crime, and the spread of infectious diseases. In one passage, he targets adult bookstores because they “tend to attract homosexual men who engage in high-risk unprotected sexual activities.”

The story goes on

It is not clear if any similar establishment exists in the Old Forge. Attempts to contact officials of the NEPA Rainbow Alliance, a local LGBTQ+ rights group, have been unsuccessful.

The proposed regulation requires an operating license that includes information about the applicant, the facility, and its contagion plan to protect employees and the public from bodily fluids. It also requires employees to obtain a license. It includes a $500 business license fee and a $200 annual license renewal fee. Employee licenses require an annual fee of $50.

Fines can be as high as $500 per violation, as well as legal fees and attorneys’ fees.

The chief of police may reject the application if he determines that the applicant has lied, been convicted of various sex or drug offenses in the past few years, or if the applicant had a similar license revoked in another jurisdiction in the past year.

While the owners say the Diamond Club has been in existence for about 20 years, the ruling requires them to obtain a license within 180 days of going into effect.

The city council will also consider another ordinance Tuesday that would require a license to operate a “bring your own booze” establishment. Alcohol is not served at the Diamond Club or any other club on site, but patrons are welcome to bring their own.

Attempts to reach the borough’s Solicitor William Rinaldi for comment were unsuccessful.

Dubernas said on Monday that he had not read the offer. He noted a history of fights, drug use, and complaints emanating from the property.

“This place is 20 years old, and now all of a sudden there are complaints?” Jaffes challenged. “Shows us the police logs.”

Jaffes said he and Krauss became owners of the building and business in November after the previous owner of the property defaulted on a loan. The manager runs the club to pay the property bills, but the partners intend to sell the property.

“We’re just trying to pay the bills until we can offload it,” Jaffes said.

The move to the area comes almost two months after a shootout with a headshot to a woman ended in a parking lot. The arrest warrant for Jordan Alexander Allen remained outstanding on Monday in connection with the Jan. 1 shooting.

Investigators said Allen, 23, from Wilkes-Barre, shot twice in the direction of a parking lot after an argument with his ex-girlfriend. This prompted several more people to start shooting.

The woman was shot in the head, although it is not known who fired the gun that hit her. State police are working to identify others involved in the shooting.

Allen is wanted on charges of aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person, and simple assault.

District Attorney Mark Powell said law enforcement was investigating whether they could close the club as a nasty property. However, most of the complaints come after hours, from the parking lot and are not related to business activity.

Krauss claimed the shooting had nothing to do with the strip club and said the shot came from the street and the bullet hit the building.

“We cooperated fully,” Krauss said. “These people were not in the Diamond Club. We watched several hours of video footage.”

Contact the author: [email protected], 570-348-9100, x5187; @jkohutTT on Twitter.

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