Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Um, your agenda is showing

Was Cheetahs punished for airing their grievances to the media?

Cheetahs had their permit revoked in December of last year.
Cheetahs had their permit revoked in December of last year.

Suzanne Coe, president of the Kearny Mesa strip joint known as Cheetahs, claims the San Diego Police Department's vice unit revoked the club's entertainment permit in retaliation against her and her club after her manager and more than a dozen dancers went to the media last March with complaints that officers conducted an illegal raid and forced them to pose for photos against their wishes.

The club has been allowed to remain open until a judge hears the case.

On March 6, 2014, ten police officers entered the club and ordered the dancers to private dressing rooms. Once there, the women were forced to get in line and pose for photos.

Sponsored
Sponsored

In the days that followed, some of the women and the club's manager, Rich Buonantony, gave to the media firsthand accounts of the raid and the impromptu and invasive photo session. In interviews, they said the officers crossed the line of enforcement and violated their constitutional rights. They repeated those allegations in a claim they filed with the city two weeks later, which was later denied. On April 7 of last year, the club's management filed a lawsuit against the city in federal court.

The police department, according to the March 23, 2015, lawsuit, punished the dancers and establishment for airing their grievances to the media.

Two days after the federal lawsuit was filed, officers from the vice unit notified Cheetahs that they had violated San Diego's Municipal Code governing nude entertainment clubs. And then came more visits from undercover officers.

"On April 24, 2014, the day after the meeting, and on May 2, 2014, and May 20, 2014, San Diego police officers conducted undercover operations at Cheetahs," reads the lawsuit. "During these operations, undercover officers would pay the entertainers for 'lap dances.' The undercover officers then filed internal reports alleging the entertainers had violated regulatory provisions of the San Diego Municipal Code."

In June, the police department notified Cheetahs that it was seeking to revoke their permit due to 12 alleged violations, including illegal touching during lap dances and dancers violating the six-feet rule.

According to the lawsuit, police department staff had been told that the force was trying to close Cheetahs for good.

"In July of 2014, unknown employees of the SDPD, who worked at the Vice Unit permit desk processing entertainer permit applications and taking photographs of the applicants, told one permit applicant that the applicant should not work at Cheetahs because they were 'trying to shut them down.'"

The harassment continued for several months, with officers showing up at the strip club asking for business documents and other items as part of their investigation.

On December 22, a hearing officer sided with the police and ordered to revoke their permit.

The city must now defend allegations that the vice unit conducted an illegal raid and improperly detained the workers at Cheetahs in federal court while defending their decision to revoke the club's permits in Superior Court.

(corrected 3/29, 11:50 a.m.)

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Live Five: Songwriter Sanctuary, B-Side Players, The Crawdaddys, Saint Luna, Brawley

Reunited, in the round, and onstage in Normal Heights, East Village, Little Italy, Encinitas
Next Article

Live Five: Andrew Peña, Frankie J, Beat Farmers, Jesse LaMonaca, Puddles Pity Party

Latin, roots rock, and pity parties in Mission Beach, Little Italy, El Cajon
Cheetahs had their permit revoked in December of last year.
Cheetahs had their permit revoked in December of last year.

Suzanne Coe, president of the Kearny Mesa strip joint known as Cheetahs, claims the San Diego Police Department's vice unit revoked the club's entertainment permit in retaliation against her and her club after her manager and more than a dozen dancers went to the media last March with complaints that officers conducted an illegal raid and forced them to pose for photos against their wishes.

The club has been allowed to remain open until a judge hears the case.

On March 6, 2014, ten police officers entered the club and ordered the dancers to private dressing rooms. Once there, the women were forced to get in line and pose for photos.

Sponsored
Sponsored

In the days that followed, some of the women and the club's manager, Rich Buonantony, gave to the media firsthand accounts of the raid and the impromptu and invasive photo session. In interviews, they said the officers crossed the line of enforcement and violated their constitutional rights. They repeated those allegations in a claim they filed with the city two weeks later, which was later denied. On April 7 of last year, the club's management filed a lawsuit against the city in federal court.

The police department, according to the March 23, 2015, lawsuit, punished the dancers and establishment for airing their grievances to the media.

Two days after the federal lawsuit was filed, officers from the vice unit notified Cheetahs that they had violated San Diego's Municipal Code governing nude entertainment clubs. And then came more visits from undercover officers.

"On April 24, 2014, the day after the meeting, and on May 2, 2014, and May 20, 2014, San Diego police officers conducted undercover operations at Cheetahs," reads the lawsuit. "During these operations, undercover officers would pay the entertainers for 'lap dances.' The undercover officers then filed internal reports alleging the entertainers had violated regulatory provisions of the San Diego Municipal Code."

In June, the police department notified Cheetahs that it was seeking to revoke their permit due to 12 alleged violations, including illegal touching during lap dances and dancers violating the six-feet rule.

According to the lawsuit, police department staff had been told that the force was trying to close Cheetahs for good.

"In July of 2014, unknown employees of the SDPD, who worked at the Vice Unit permit desk processing entertainer permit applications and taking photographs of the applicants, told one permit applicant that the applicant should not work at Cheetahs because they were 'trying to shut them down.'"

The harassment continued for several months, with officers showing up at the strip club asking for business documents and other items as part of their investigation.

On December 22, a hearing officer sided with the police and ordered to revoke their permit.

The city must now defend allegations that the vice unit conducted an illegal raid and improperly detained the workers at Cheetahs in federal court while defending their decision to revoke the club's permits in Superior Court.

(corrected 3/29, 11:50 a.m.)

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tuétano and Mujer Divina: two storefronts, one famous birria

Burritos and coffee or tacos and tortas, marrow or not
Next Article

National City to junk permissive land-use code

Airbnb regs would be like Chula Vista's
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader