LEBANON - In his closing statement to jurors Friday, attorney James Hartke suggested that “adult entertainment may not be your cup of tea.”

        But, he persisted, that doesn't mean it's illegal. About 90 minutes later, the eight-person jury made a statement of its own.

Terry Wolfe, whose wife owns Bristol's, says politicians have targeted the club to curry favor with voters. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        Terri “Toy” Thornton was acquitted of charges she engaged in a sexual act with a fellow dancer for hire. It was the first case to reach trial in a string of more than two dozen cases in connection with a March 5 raid on Bristol's Show Club and Revue off Ohio 63 in Monroe, about 25 miles north of Cincinnati in Warren County.

        “It is going to be very clear from here on out,” predicted club spokeman Terry Wolfe, the husband of owner Giselle Wolfe. Several dancers, servers and managers anxiously awaited the outcome of the one-day trial, viewing it as a measure of what lies ahead in the Bristol's cases.

        Two of those charged in Lebanon Municipal Court have accepted plea agreements, eight have cases pending in court and eight others have a trial date set. At least six others have charges pending in Warren County Common Pleas Court none of which has gone to trial. Charges include prostitution, drug trafficking and alcohol violations.

        While the jury was still out, Lebanon Prosecutor James Whitaker predicted that Ms. Thornton's case will have a large impact on the progression of Bristol's-related cases.

        Soon after learning of the not-guilty verdict, Mr. Whitaker said he planned to review the cases with police investigators and “decide where we are going with it.” The prosecutor told jurors that in 25 years in the legal system, this was his first experience in working a prostitution case.

        Since the club opened in 1994, some city officials and residents cringed at the idea of the adult business making Monroe its home.

        Jay Revelson, an attorney defending at least two of the Bristol's defendants, said before Friday's trial, “These cases swamped the prosecutor because you have about 30 new cases at one time, and 30 new sets of attorneys.”

        Counsel has taken strikingly different routes in handling the Bristol's cases. Some have struck plea agreements for clients that have resulted in probation or fines, while others are set for trial. Mr. Wolfe said several employees pled out because they “couldn't afford to pay proper counsel,” even though he believes they were innocent.

        Mr. Wolfe and his wife expect to go to trial on bootlegging charges.

        “Nobody should have to plead to something they didn't do,” he said. “They have that charge on the record for the rest of their life.”

        A four-month undercover investigation by Warren County authorities initially focused on suspicions of drug trafficking. To complete the investigation and keep under cover, the officers were given money to spend at the club. In addition to trafficking, officers say they witnessed prostitution and bootlegging, which led to the additional arrests.

        In trial, Mr. Hartke attacked the mission of the officers by calling them “red-blooded, healthy, heterosexual men who got paid to go to a strip club.”

        Mr. Whitaker countered with a question; “Why would anyone believe the officers are on trial?” Both sides agreed that the jurors had to decide whether to believe the dancer or the officers.

        Mr. Wolfe says officials have worked against his club in an effort to appease voters before elections this fall.

        “It was a well thought-out plan to destroy the club and get it shut down,” said Mr. Wolfe, adding that those who disapprove of the nature of the business “targeted this club to discredit it, and force it to close.”

        But the show goes on.

        A day after gun-toting police raided the premises, the club reopened its doors to patrons. Mr. Wolfe says the club is “doing quite well,” despite the negative attention brought on by the raid. He said the private club has more than 83,000 members.

        “It made some people leery to come in here, not so much because they didn't know the kind of place we ran, but for the fear of getting caught up in an arrest situation,” he said.

        “If in fact there was a drug problem, my wife and anyone in the facility would have been happy to assist the undercovers because we don't condone that activity.”

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