• Fed up
with
violence
&
exploitation,
officials
force
yearlong
closure
DETROIT
(Tell Us
Det) -
Detroit
residents
in the
area of
8 Mile
and
Hubbell
on the
city’s
west
side
scored a
major or
victory
today as
Police
Chief
Warren
Evans
and
members
of
Prosecutor
Kym
Worthy’s
Office
formally
padlocked
the
notorious
All
Stars
strip
club. On
July
1st,
Wayne
County
Circuit
Court
Judge
Virgil
Smith,
Jr. came
down
hard on
the
club,
slapping
it with
a one
year
suspension
of its
business
license
after
police
and
prosecutors
detailed
repeated
offenses
at the
club in
recent
months
and
going
back
years.
“This
establishment,
more
than any
other in
the
city,
has been
allowed
to erode
the
quality
of life
of
nearby
residents
for too
long and
put
citizens
safety
at
risk,”
Chief
Evans
said.
“This
closure
should
send a
clear
message
to other
clubs
about
how we
expect
them to
operate.
It also
should
send a
message
to
residents
living
near one
of these
clubs
that we
are
actively
fighting
to
protect
their
neighborhoods.”
In
April,
Detroit
Police,
working
with the
Wayne
County
Prosecutor’s
Office,
arrested
and
charged
All Star
business
manager,
Andrew
Hutson,
31, with
child
sexually
abusive
activity
for
allegedly
employing
a
14-year-old
dancer.
According
to
investigators,
the girl
had
danced
topless
at the
club for
approximately
two
months,
typically
working
several
nights
per
week.
The
girl’s
mother,
who
investigators
say had
tried
unsuccessfully
to
control
her
daughter,
says she
suffers
from
mild
mental
retardation.
Investigators
say the
girl
would
claim to
be
staying
at a
friend’s
house
and go
to the
club. On
an
average
night,
the girl
allegedly
would
earn
upwards
of $350,
much of
which
she had
to turn
over to
the club
for the
privilege
of
dancing
and to
tip the
DJ and
other
employees.
Once the
mother
learned
what her
daughter
was
really
doing,
she
retrieved
her from
the club
and
immediately
called
police.
At the
time of
Hutson’s
arrest,
Chief
Evans
vowed to
go after
the
club’s
operating
license.
At the
request
of the
Detroit
Police,
the
Prosecutor’s
Office
moved
forward
with
efforts
to close
down the
club.
“The law
allows
us to
seek the
remedy
of pad
locking
a
business
when it
creates
a public
nuisance.
We
believe
that
this
action
was
appropriate
and
necessary
in this
instance,”
said
Prosecutor
Worthy.
Detroit
Police
have had
numerous
dealings
with All
Star,
Chief
Evans
sai& In
the past
six
years
there
have
been
three
fatal
and 11
non-fatal
shootings
at the
club, as
well as
numerous
other
violations.
Consistently,
club
operators
have
attempted
to
thwart
DPD’s
efforts
to
investigate
and has
even
filed
lawsuits
claiming
harassment
by
police
in an
apparent
effort
to avoid
being
subject
to
routine
inspections.
Early
this
year, a
pregnant
woman
sitting
in her
car
outside
the club
was
struck
in the
back
with a
stray
bullet
fired by
a club
patron.
She and
her
child
recovered
but the
police
investigation
was
hampered
when
club
management
manually
deleted
the
security
video
they
were
required
to
maintain
as part
of an
existing
consent
agreement
stemming
from
previous
violations.
Don
Johnson,
who
lives
just a
few
doors
down
from All
Star —
and
serves
as the
President
for the
12th
Precinct
Community
Relations
Council
— said
he is
thrilled
with the
closure
of the
club.
“I have
had
problems
of my
own
related
to this
club,
including
customers
running
between
my
neighbor’s
house
and my
house
shooting
at each
other,”
Johnson
said.
“We have
been
fighting
against
this
club for
years
and are
elated
that
something
has
finally
been
done to
shut
them
down.”
All Star
is the
second
notorious
night
club
Chief
Evans
has been
successful
in
shutting
down.
Last
August,
Detroit
Police
padlocked
the
Platinum
Lounge
for six
months,
another
club
that had
racked
up
multiple
violations.
Evans
said
that his
staff
remains
vigilant
with
other
clubs in
the city
and
continuously
pushes
for
sanctions
against
them, as
well, up
to and
including
the loss
of their
license.
