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Charges dropped against Broward swingers
By PAULA McMAHON Sun-Sentinel A year and a half after Broward sheriff's deputies arrested some 50 people in two raids on swingers clubs, prosecutors dropped criminal charges Monday in the remaining 20 or so cases. It's about time," said attorney Daniel Aaronson, who represented several of the accused. "This hurt a lot of innocent people's lives." People's private activities were made public and careers were damaged when dozens were charged with lewdness in the early 1999 raids on Trapeze II and Athena's Forum. In about half of the cases, charges were either dropped early on or people pleaded guilty in exchange for community service. The arrests, which got national attention, have proved to be an embarrassment for both the Broward Sheriff's Office and the Broward State Attorney's Office. Deputies testified they did not know the legal requirements to make a lewdness arrest at the time of the raids. And the State Attorney's Office refused to drop the cases even after numerous judges' rulings made it clear that the charges could not be sustained. Aaronson estimated the prosecutions cost hundreds of thousands of tax dollars: More than 30 sheriff's deputies took part in the raids; two prosecutors handled the court cases; other prosecutors helped with appeals; several judges had to conduct numerous hearings and dozens of court appearances for the accused people. There were hours upon hours of depositions and pages and pages of transcripts. "I think the public's money could have been better spent fighting actual crimes," said Alan Mostow, co-owner of Trapeze II. Legal experts said the prosecutions were doomed before they began. Broward Circuit Judge James Cohn ruled last month in an appeal of a lower court ruling that the sexual activity was not against the law because it happened in private among like-minded people and did not "substantially intrude upon the rights of others." Swingers join the clubs to watch or take part in consensual group sex or partner swapping. Club members had to fill out application forms, pay annual and entrance fees to enter the premises and pass signs warning them to keep out if nudity or sexual activity offended them. Members must be over 21. The decision to drop the charges was revealed by prosecutors in Broward County court Monday morning as Mostow's trial was scheduled to begin. It came just hours before the deadline for prosecutors to file an appeal of Cohn's decision, the latest in a series of defeats in the cases. At least five Broward judges had ruled that to prove lewdness, prosecutors would need evidence that someone present in the club, other than the arresting officers, was offended by the activities. There was no evidence that anyone else was offended. One Broward sheriff's detective testified the sexual activity offended him and another detective said it embarrassed her. Broward State Attorney Mike Satz, who is running for election this year, did not return calls requesting comment on his decision. Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne, who is also running for election this fall, was out of the office and could not be reached for comment. Sheriff's deputies said the raids were in response to anonymous CrimeStoppers complaints about the clubs. Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Cheryl Stopnick said deputies acted in good faith and the department respects the judges' rulings.
Broward prosecutors said they pursued the cases because the
sheriff's office made the arrests and prosecutors thought the law was unclear
about whether the swingers' actions were illegal.
"We had one interpretation of the law, and clearly everyone
else had a different interpretation," said Kristin Kanner, an assistant state
attorney assigned to respond to media inquiries on the case. The Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office, which handled
two of the cases involving people whose relatives work at the Broward State Attorney's
Office, dropped the charges more than a year ago. A memo written by the Palm Beach
County prosecutor said the charges could not be sustained because they involved
a husband and wife having sex in a private club and no witnesses were offended.
Couples' reputations
Most of the people arrested were married or committed
couples. Among those arrested were two Broward teachers, a Broward sheriff's corrections
officer, a Fort Lauderdale police officer and his wife, a dispatcher for the Oakland
Park Police Department who now works for the sheriff's office.
"I got arrested for making love to my wife in private behind
closed doors in front of no one who was offended but BSO deputies," said
Fort Lauderdale police officer Ray Hall. He was arrested in February 1999 with
his wife, Lynette Hall, a Broward sheriff's dispatcher who worked for Oakland
Park at the time. "We have no private life anymore, BSO made sure of that,"
said Ray Hall.
Mostow said he thinks the raids were a political publicity stunt
that backfired. The Halls and Mostow, who spent more than 24 hours in jail before
he could bail out, said they plan to sue the sheriff's office in federal court.
"What bothers me is (the compensation) is not going to
come from the sheriff personally -- I feel bad that this is something the taxpayers
of Broward County are going to end up paying for," Mostow said.
Lynette Hall said the arrest and publicity violated her privacy
and caused her embarrassment about a part of her life that she wanted to keep
confidential from her family, friends and work colleagues.
"It was something we did in our own private lives, and
all of a sudden, I'm going into work and I have to explain why I've been arrested,"
she said.
Both of the teachers suffered career repercussions. Tonya Whyte
resigned earlier this year, citing stress-related health problems after months
of battling the School Board's efforts to fire her.
The other teacher, Kenneth Springer, worked out an agreement
that allowed him to continue teaching. He lost his tenure, was placed on professional
probation for two years and was reassigned to teach adult-education classes.
In the only one of the swinger cases to go to trial, Broward
County Judge Robert W. Lee last month threw out the charges against Dennis Freeland,
46, the co-owner of Trapeze II. After two days of testimony and legal argument, Lee ruled prosecutors
did not prove the charges that Freeland operated the club for the purpose of lewdness,
prostitution or assignation, which is making an appointment for prostitution.
Lee acquitted Freeland before the case went to a jury, but the majority of jurors
said they agreed with him.
Freeland and Mostow said they had nothing to hide and documents
showed they were above board when they set up the club. They got a certificate
of use from the county, applied for tax-exempt status as a private club from the
IRS and allowed code enforcement officers to inspect the building.
One case, dismissed by Lee on the grounds of selective prosecution,
is still under appeal by prosecutors. The defense said it expects the appeal to
fail.
Court spectacle
The pretrial hearings in the cases generated bizarre
courtroom scenes that included public showings of grainy video tape shot by undercover
deputies at the clubs. Some of the undercover officers wore ski masks to conceal
their identities as they testified. Questions were raised about why one of the female deputies,
who had already stripped down to a towel, decided to get naked and join a stranger
in a hot tub during the investigation.
The titillating tale and the interesting legal issues it provoked
prompted lots of local and national media attention, which included numerous newspaper
reports, segments on 48 Hours and Court TV, some daytime talk shows
and even a piece in Playboy.
From a legal standpoint, it was worth it to get a legal
victory," Aaronson said. "But from a human standpoint, it certainly
was not worth it." |