INDIANAPOLIS -- A court brief filed this month reveals details of an undercover police investigation of an operation that the city alleges is an illegally operating swinger club.
Video: City Asks Judge To Close Club
The city alleges that couples who belong to a club on the 3400 block of West Washington Street go there to watch people have sex and to have sex with others.
The city has asked a judge to shut down the club, which the city identified in court documents as Reel One. The club, according to the city, is in violation of several ordinances, including one that prohibits operating an adult entertainment business within 500 feet of a residential area.
A case against the club has been pending since October 2003. This month, the city filed a brief that detailed an investigation by two Indianapolis police officers who are married to each other.
According to the brief, the officers went to the club posing as swingers in March and April of 2003.
The officers "found rooms that were available for sexual activity," Indianapolis Deputy Police Chief Tim Horty told
RTV6's Jack Rinehart on Wednesday.
"The couple was approached by other couples that were interested in having fortuitous sex. Varying degrees of nudity, people walking around," Horty said.
According to the court documents, the undercover officers were given a tour of the club. The documents say that the club's owner, Frank Broadhacker, told the couple that they should return on a Saturday because more people would be there, and that it wouldn't be uncommon to see people having sex on floors and tables.
On a second visit, the officers watched a couple engaging in sex at a table in view of about 20 people, according to the court documents.
"I'm a strong advocate that what adults do behind closed doors is really their own business until it crosses a line of being illegal," Horty said. "That's where I feel like we have to intervene and do what we know to be right."
Department of Metropolitan Development representative Justin Ohlemiller said swinger clubs are a detriment to neighborhoods.
"They do attract crime," Ohlemiller said. "They do offer an environment that could promote the spread of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) and other unhealthy activity."
The city also has asked the judge to impose fines of up to $15,000. It also wants the club to reimburse the police department for the cost of the investigation, including membership fees that the undercover officers allegedly paid, Rinehart reported.
The judge is expected to make a decision next month, Rinehart reported.
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