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Dancers arrested in Ybor City club

Three topless dancers got too friendly with some of the gentlemen patrons, who happened to be undercover officers, at the Inferno.

By SHANNON COLAVECCHIO-VAN SICKLER
Published May 9, 2005

TAMPA - Strip club king Joe Redner bills Inferno as "Ybor City's Only Gentleman's Club," the "distinguished gentleman's destination in Tampa."

Posters lining the windows of the E Seventh Avenue club feature a pretty blonde, strategically posed and clad in little more than her ankle tattoo.

Police say skin was on display this past weekend, when three of Redner's dancers got too friendly with some of the gentlemen patrons - who happened to be plainclothes officers from the Tampa Police Department and the state Division of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The three women - Beth Michelle Cohen, 21; Kimberly Jean Rouillard, 35; and Deborah Jean Tricoli, 41 - were booked into the county jail Friday night on one misdemeanor count each of being nude in an establishment where liquor is sold.

Jail records show Tricoli also was charged with offering herself up for prostitution to one of the undercover officers, a misdemeanor. All three dancers posted small bonds, between $250 and $500 each, and walked out of jail Saturday morning.

Tampa Police spokesman Joe Durkin said the topless dancers unveiled their groins during lap dances with the plainclothes officers. Tricoli also gave one officer an "exclusive lap dance" in Inferno's upstairs VIP room, then offered to commit a sex act for money, Durkin said.

Unlike at Mons Venus, his Tampa strip club that draws men from around the world, Redner is allowed to serve liquor at Inferno.

But a city ordinance prohibits nude dancing in places that serve alcohol, unless the club has the proper "adult use" zoning, said Tampa Police Capt. Paul Driscoll.

Only a few strip clubs, such as the Pink Pony on S Dale Mabry Highway, have the city's permission to feature nude dancers alongside their drink specials.

City zoning officials said a club's "wet zoning" status for alcohol sales can be revoked only when there is a pattern of arrests for unlawful activity such as prostitution or drugs.

Friday's arrests were the first for Inferno since Redner, who is well versed in the city's rules for adult entertainment clubs, opened it a few months ago at 1915 E Seventh Ave.

"We've been monitoring it," Driscoll said.

Redner said the women at Inferno dance onstage and with the male patrons, "but they don't touch you."

He said Tricoli's prostitution arrest "is very serious, as far as I'm concerned.

"I don't know yet if there's anything to that, but I won't take that lightly at all."

But he called the nudity arrests, which shut down the club Friday night, "so trivial."

"Like they don't have enough troubles in Ybor City, that they have to go into my club and arrest girls dancing in an enclosed club where kids aren't allowed. But if they want to do that and then thump their chests, well fine."

Shannon Colavecchio-Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3373 or svansickler@sptimes.com

[Last modified May 9, 2005, 17:51:03]