MONROE — Warren County authorities began rounding up more than two dozen people Tuesday after a four-month undercover investigation into alleged cocaine trafficking, prostitution and liquor violations at Bristol's Show Club and Revue.

        Armed with search warrants and sealed indictments, officers swarmed the exotic dance club off Ohio 63 and its owner's Hyde Park residence about 4 p.m., searching for financial records and computers as evidence in the case.

        A third search warrant was served on Firstar in Monroe to secure Bristol's bank account.

        The sweep came four days after a Warren County grand jury secretly indicted six people on felony cocaine-trafficking charges. Their identities were not available Tuesday.

        Twenty-six to 28 people, including dancers, bartenders, patrons and three club managers, were being sought on a variety of charges Tuesday, authorities said.

        “There will be other people charged. It's just a matter of who and for what,” John Burke, commander of the Warren County Drug Task Force, said outside the club.

        Liquor violations and prostitution offenses surfaced as part of the investigation, which initially involved drugs, Mr. Burke said.

        Ten to 15 patrons were at the club when police barged through the doors with a tactical team that was never employed. As police questioned club staff, drug dogs sniffed cars in the parking lot.

        Officers turned away arriving patrons, to the disappointment of Jim Wall of Cincinnati.

        “It's just like anything else,” he said. “You can't have any entertainment in Cincinnati or surrounding areas because they close it down.”

        The raid was a welcome sight for Rick Thomas, who owns a small insurance office nearby and says he offers prayers and Christian counseling to clubgoers. He has fought Bristol's for years, blasting gospel music over loudspeakers, passing out Christian pamphlets and offering prayer vigils near the parking lot.

        “The last couple of years, I hadn't seen any of this. I wondered if police were really checking this place out,” he said.

        The club was the first bar with nearly nude dancers to open in Southwest Ohio in at least a generation when it made its debut in November 1994.

        It later lost its liquor license because of violations.

       E-mail smclaughlin@enquirer.com

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