The Antelope Valley Times

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Deputies take down illegal nightclub

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Authorities have release these pictures taken from inside the illegal club. (Courtesy LASD)
Authorities have released these pictures taken from inside the illegal club. (Courtesy LASD)

LANCASTER – Authorities say illegal alcohol sales and prostitution were taking place at an underground strip club operating inside an industrial building in Lancaster.

Deputies raided the operation recently and arrested four suspects, according to a press release issued Wednesday. Read the release below:

A month’s long investigation involving possible illegal alcohol sales, gambling and prostitution ended with the arrest of four suspects.

In the latter part of last year, Lancaster Station received complaints regarding illegal activity in and around an industrial building in the 42500 block of 6th Street East in the city of Lancaster. The complaints alleged that there was an “underground” Strip Club operating inside the building.

In December of 2012, detectives from the Sheriff’s Department’s Major Crimes Bureau, as well as deputies from Lancaster Station’s “LANCAP” team began several undercover operations in response to the complaints.

During these operations, they confirmed that there was illegal alcohol sales and prostitution taking place in a “private club” atmosphere.

Deputies as well as officers from the State of California Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control conducted an early morning “raid” at the building on Saturday April 27th. During the “raid” the deputies arrested four suspects for various charges related to the sales of alcohol.

The Lancaster Sheriff’s Station did not release the names of the four suspects. However, according to LASD inmate records, the four suspects arrested at the location on April 27 include:

  • William Pleitez, 24, of Palmdale
  • Alfred Xenios Pico, 41, of Lancaster
  • Mercedes Jasmine Loza, 21, of Palmdale
  • Juan Carlos Munoz, 33, of Palmdale

Lancaster Station Detectives are continuing to investigate this incident to determine if a local cab company was involved in the illegal activity.

UPDATE: Sources say the illicit operation had a facebook page, which showcased its “workers”. View the facebook page here. The operation also advertised its “services” on various events websites. View one if its profiles here.

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Filed Under: Crime/ Safety

78 comments for "Deputies take down illegal nightclub"

  1. I’m just curiouser as to why it has taken since December to shut this down. How many undercover jobs do you need to do to verify there is stripping, alcohol sales and prostituion going on. How many lap dances did the antelope valleys tax dollars buy? Also of all those undercover jobs they only ended up arresting 4 people quite pathetic I think.

  2. You all are idiots (minus the better then snookis guy)
    It was not a rat hole, nor as bad as you all beleive it to have been,
    It had no Ties to the taxi company what so ever,so lay off, we make an honest living dancing, id like to see you F**** get on that pole and shake your a**. Bet youd have an asthma attack 2 seconds in. Morons.

    • You know what sweetie, a lot of us who are women have found a way to make an honest living without shaking our a**, maybe its time to go to school and learn another trade.Stop trying to defend it.
      No asthma here either.

    • Men learn to swing a hammer, women learn to swing their behind. Far be it for me to say which is better. Both serve a purpose to clients.

      The sex industry is alive and well and requires folks to follow health code regulations. Underground clubs do not follow OSHA regulations, Labor Laws or provide for other safeguards for their employees. They do not pay taxes or contribute the economy of the local area.

      Now, after the man hours required to conduct this investigation, this “Club” has cost the city money. How is that acceptable in any way?

      The fine should be the estimated amount of lost revenue from taxes (income taxes/tip taxes/sales taxes/entry fee taxes/etc), reimbursement for the investigation, legal/court costs and a fine on top of it all. The punishment should be strict and able to deter others from even considering this as a profitable venture.

      If a ‘dancer’ is worth it, she will find work in a reputable establishment (yes, there are some) that follow the laws.

  3. Wow!! I can beleive people are blaming illegal immigrants for this. The owner is a white male and all the people that were arrested were all natural U.S.A citizens. In fact the people who were arrested were just emloyees.

  4. FROM THE PROFILE THEY HAD, DOES SEEMS THAT THE TAXI COMPANY HAD INVOLVEMENT!! BUT IN REALITY, ONE IS SHUT DOWN AN ANOTHER ONE IS OPENING. TOO MUCH MONEY TO BE MADE! 
    WHY NOT JUST OPEN STRIP CLUBS IN THE AV? THAT WOULD CREATE MORE JOBS! LMAO!!!!

  6. I’m so surprised it took this long to uncover this! It’s been around for an upwards of 6-7 years! It’s moved a few times to other locations but from the address they provided I think they just ended up turning the old dispatch place into the “club”. My boyfriend worked for Alfred for a little while and heard about it.

  8. Why are all these morons relating this to a place like Bex? This is just a rat hole run by some illegal aliens, just like dog fighting and cock fighting. It’s the new norm in America. I mean come on, unfinished plywood and unfinished cement floor? Go to any third world country and you will find infested rat holes like this, just as you will now in America since our elected officials refuse to cut off the invader 3rd worlders (turd worlders) from taking over our culture, laws, civilization and language.

    • Might want to checkout the history of dog and cock fighting, traces back to my anglosaxon roots.

    • If it was really ran by illegal immigrants then the place would look better than it did. But read the story first it was ran by an American citizen. Thats MERICA for you. Viejo piojo

  9. Hahahah! I found all of their personal Facebook profiles! I especially like Alfred’s classy profile picture. He’s in a snazzy suit with his “attractive” lady.

    • And well what do you know, they are some of the same guys from El Dorado. This just keeping getting better.

      • oh.. spend some time connecting the dots and this one ends up touching a whole lot of people in the A.V. Some of the events on Facebook over the last year include some fairly prominent members of the community who were listed as ‘going’ to some of these parties.

  10. The profile states Palmdale so is it in Lancaster or Palmdale? I wonder why it took so long to take these fools down.
    Is the Bex mentioned, on Lancaster Blvd. Maybe this is an extension to happenings on the BLVD. I bet there are more of these…

  11. Hey, my stripper friend worked there! Sorry Jenn :-( , I’ll help you find work elsewhere hun, just get at me. I got you.

    • As a fellow gun rights advocate, I am ECSTATIC that no gun related problems have happened there. I am sure weapons were around (illegally) but nobody would have cared about the legal status of the weapons.

      • Are you kidding? The people running it were probably illegal/s. Looks like some of the 3rd world death trap rat holes I’ve seen in TJ. Welcome to the new norm in America! Viva la gaza

    • but kind of sophisticated stinky hole with all those shuttles to and from, maybe more going on than they are saying.Gambling and drugs I would bet.

  13. I am just laughing at how long it took. Been getting invites for the longest time. Oh trust and believe… they made their money.
    Those that got popped… well.. they just gotta take the lumps as they come. Those that didn’t, made out like bandits.
    As bold as they were, I guessed they were on the up and up. It would seem I was wrong..lol. Sorta like all the drug dealing and crime is happening right across the street from the Lancaster Sheriff station and nobody “knows” about it.

  14. I’m late to the ball game. Seems they already yanked the Facebook page down. What did I miss? Was it trashtastic? Damn, shoulda checked this site sooner. Ah well, I’ll just have to wait for the next scandal. No shortage of that in the AV for sure.

    • Well same DJs that use to be at bex. Some of the same go gos as box. I guess the old saying was true at Bex “if you want sex go to BeX.if you want a hoe go to Ro Sham Bo “

        • That’s the saying employees had at bex and sounds a lot like the same things went on at both places the city should have shut bex down too.

          • BEX is under new ownership and that demographic hasn’t been a part of BEX for around a year now.
            They have live rock bands, country line dancing and karaoke in BEX/RoShambo, not the kind of stuff seen here.
            The local country station promotes line dancing Thursday nights and they pack the place.. it’s really a good time.. we go often.

          • The blvd and most the business are under the control of Scott Ehrlich with a bunch of front people he puts in place to protect himself and his company. Research it and you will see . The reasons things changed at Bex is it had too after the srabbinvs rights gunshots and numerous sheriff responses. If it was located in palmdale where Mr Ehrlich does not have city government in his pocket like he dies in Lanxaster it would have like when the city of palmdle shut down “El Dorado” for same issues.

          • Actually most if not all of the businesses have taken over ownership from InSite Developments since around the beginning of this year. Some of the new owners are more than happy to disclose this fact in open conversations. They are expected to start posting updated liquor licenses in the next few months.

          • And who owns the property and land? And who secured the loans? Really now who still controls the blvd? As well as all the low income rental properties

      • Not a fan of BeX. The 20-something drunkfest scene does not appeal to me or my friends.

        • Check the RoShamBo website. You can obviously see from their calendar that the list of bands are far from the 20-something drunkfest scene.
          Copper Hill, No Strings Attached, Overdrive, etc..
          Those are all rock bands that play at Thunder, The AV Fair, etc..

          People need to get up to date on the BLVD. Some of the comments here are so out of date it’s comical.

          • Our timing must be awful. When I have been at BeX I have had to deal with puking in the bathroom, filthy bathrooms and drunks in and outside. My server was clueless too. Then we have to deal with the street beggars. No thank you.

        • RE: BeX. I haven’t gone to BeX in about a year. I went a dozen times or so after it opened. The garlic fries were great but it was kind of a strange place. I didn’t care for the design, the dark interior during the day with that bright wall of windows and a patio that they rave about on Yelp but looks like a patio at a truck stop on the 5. It musta been done by amateurs. Remember that goofy way of ordering at the front desk before you sat down, then the servers would bring you orders in no particular order-your burger then 5 minutes later your fries, etc. Tom’s 25, 26, etc. do that but way better.

          I went a bunch of times at noontime or at dinner time during the week and the place was empty but for a few tables. I wondered how they stayed in business.

          I never went late at night on the weekends, so I guess that’s when they did their business, such as it was.

          I recall, years ago going to the El Dorado in Palmdale and it was the same thing, deserted at noon and dinner hours. WTF?

          I guess these places are really nightclubs with a restaurant as a front.

          Plus, in less than a year after opening, BeX had a ‘B’ grade from the health department. Again, WTF for a brand new restaurant?????

          Then, someone wrote that it’s under new owners???? So much for the crown jewel of the BLVD.

          BeX. Rhymes with ReX. Both make ya wonder. I’ll pass.

          • The BLVD is tight until the sun goes down.Then its get ready for the bums. Sux when you want to bring a date there.

          • William,
            I think you have given this same ‘review’ numerous times over the last year so I think it’s now been two years since you visited Bex.
            I don’t think they have done walk up ordering in over two years now..
            But it’s a good story none the less.. all be it a story at this point..

          • Adam Chant didn’t dispute anything I said, did he? I wrote “Remember the goofy way of ordering at the front desk…….” He could infer that that is no longer the case, whether it’s been 1, 2 or 10 years, but he didn’t, did he?

            Instead of defending, defending, defending the BLVD, BeX or whatever, he should go to the leaders and address the issues people have complained about and criticized for years instead of going after the critics, most of whom are Lancaster residents, I would guess.

            It’s a tough job Adam has, but someone’s gotta do it. Someone has to defend Parris’s “Shining city on the BLVD” to paraphrase RR.

          • You have my comments confused. I don’t defend anything the Mayor or the city does, ever. It’s not my place and they would be real hard pressed to get anything positive out of me.

            There are just a number of individuals who continue to misconstrue the facts pertaining to the downtown and I enjoy clarifying things.

            Call me a cheerleader, that’s fine. Do you want me to post a yearbook photo?

        • Been to Bex 4 times, clueless idiots that work there got a simple food order wrong all 4 times. Figured they were never going to get it right & haven’t been back in over 2 years.

          • @BGF. Now, Adam Chant will say you are ‘misconstruing the facts’ and he’ll have to ‘clarify’
            what you wrote because HE WAS THERE.

  16. I can’t believe they thought they would get away with this – all it takes is one upset customer to rat them out. Perhaps the bosses knew it could not last forever and just decided to make as much money as possible while it lasted.

    I have no problem with anything they did though, I think prostitution should be legal and so should gambling. These guys even drove you there and gave you a ride home so no chance of drunk driving, great!

    but now that I think about it, maybe I do have a problem with one thing. Unregulated alcohol. Meaning kids could be drinking it… perhaps 15+ ya thats not good :(

  17. I just looked at their pics…. One of those girls used to be an EMT for AMR… Sad.

  18. The “Snitches get stitches” graphic they posted to their own Facebook page doesn’t really help their cause.

  20. Back in the day when I worked at Snookys, there were plenty of beautiful girls (and a few homely ones, typical of any low budget strip club) BUT we weren’t prostitutes.

  21. HOW DID I MISS THIS!! WOW! EVEN IF THE FURNITURE IS PLYWOOD,THEM GIRLS ARE WAY BETTER LOOKING THAN THE ONES AT SNOOKY’s I CAN TELL YOU THAT!! LOL
    I BET IT WAS SNOOKY’s THAT SNITHCED ON THEM… LMAO!!

  23. Good thing we had LEAPS to uncover this.Good thing we had LEAPS to uncover this.