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The Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control wants to suspend the license of the club, which it said has been owned by JRV Holdings LLC the past 445 days.
Nine of the 12 charges stem from regulations that prohibit licensees from engaging in, allowing or permitting any “lewdness or immoral activity.”
“These charges should send a clear message to owners of so-called go-go bars throughout the state that flouting the law by using sexual activity to encourage patrons to consume alcohol is not going to be tolerated,” said Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control Director Michael Halfacre.
Halfacre also said such behavior can get people to drink too much and can lead to prostitution.
Detectives first hit Johnny A’s on Jan. 11 after receiving a tip, state authorities said today.
While sitting at the bar, one detective was immediately approached by a woman identifying herself as “Platinum,” who was wearing a two-piece bathing suit, the ABC’s complaint says. Soon after, she pulled the bottom out, exposing herself, and held it there until the detective inserted a dollar, it says.
“Platinum” then asked the detective to buy her a drink, which he said he did. Employees of a licensed establishment are prohibited from soliciting alcoholic beverages from patrons.
The detective was then asked if he wanted a lap dance, according to the complaint. He accepted and “Platinum” began to “press her body against the seated detective in several different positions and again exposed her genitals and then her breasts,” it says.
Although personal dances are allowed in the state, “audience participation” otherwise known as “touching,” is prohibited. The regulations also ban woman from dancing topless or bottomless at establishments with an alcohol license.
A second detective reported a similar experience with an employee named “Vicki” and later with an employee named “Jessica.” The women “performed illegal dances and solicited the purchase of an alcoholic beverage,” the ABC investigator said.
The investigators returned 10 days later, where similar violations yielded additional charges, the ABC said.
The club, in a squat building on Huyler Street, was under different ownership when it was the subject of similar charges by the ABC and the township in 2008.
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