Strip-club owner doesn’t testify at ABC hearing

A Richmond strip-club owner didn't wait for the end of a two-day hearing that could determine the fate of his business's liquor license.

Samuel J.T. Moore III, owner of Velvet in Shockoe Bottom, left a license-revocation hearing at the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control yesterday about an hour before it concluded. He did not take the witness stand in his own defense.

RICHMOND--VA Earlier, one of the club's supervisors testified that Moore had personally authorized a paid sex act between two dancers for the benefit of two undercover ABC agents and a state-paid informant. Former dancers also testified yesterday that they had witnessed sex for pay at the club, fully nude lap dances, underage drinking by performers and after-hours alcohol sales to customers.

The club's only defense came from two bartenders, Lauren Jennings and Rosemary Kuehn, who said they saw no evidence of underage drinking, illegal drugs or sex at the club, which was charged with 11 violations of state ABC regulations.

Kevin E. Martingayle, one of two defense lawyers for Velvet, said after the hearing that Moore's testimony wasn't necessary because the state's case was weak.

"We didn't feel there was enough to rebut," said Martingayle, an attorney for Stallings & Bischoff in Virginia Beach.

Hearing Officer Clara A. Williamson has up to 90 days to issue written findings in the case. Either party can appeal the findings to the ABC Board of Commissioners within 30 days. The board's decision is subject to appeal to Richmond Circuit Court and, potentially, the Virginia Court of Appeals.

Lawyers for the state and the club made concessions yesterday.

The state acknowledged that Moore had not been convicted of a crime of moral turpitude, as one charge had stated.

Defense attorneys agreed that the evidence, including testimony by Jennings, showed that alcohol routinely was taken off the licensed premises to the third floor of the building. They also acknowledged that a number of dancers had been convicted of public nudity under plea agreements that the ABC Department had failed to share before the hearing.

State ABC officials also said after the hearing that expenses for their undercover operation, including payment of $450 for a sexual act between two dancers, had been paid from assets seized in law-enforcement operations, not general tax funds.

Assistant Attorney General Patrick W. Dorgan asked Williamson to recommend revocation of Velvet's license to sell alcohol. He said the club on South 15th Street had continued to violate the law even after a raid by state, federal and local law enforcement early on Feb. 23, 2008.

"The wake-up call was given, and it wasn't adhered to," Dorgan said.

The raid resulted in the seizure of a videotape that showed Moore having sex with an underage girl and an 18-year-old woman in his residence above the club a few days earlier. Moore was convicted in Richmond Circuit Court last year on two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of unlawful filming of the 18-year-old. He served 30 days of a 60-day jail sentence, which was reduced for good behavior.

Former dancer Stephanie Rasmon testified yesterday that shortly before the raid she had passed out from intoxication in the club's Champagne Room after a customer engaged in sexual acts with her. Rasmon was 22 at the time.

Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or .