Why would anyone name a club "Pickles"? Let alone a sex club? It's a world gone mad...

Swingers' club patrons sue BSO over raids, arrests in '99

BY NOAH BIERMAN
nbierman@herald.com

Four years after masked sheriff's deputies exposed Broward County's salacious swinging subculture to a national audience, the men and women in the clubs are suing the raiders of the private clubs.

''They were subject to numerous newspaper articles. They were subject to notoriety that they didn't bring to themselves,'' said Daniel Aaronson, part of a legal team representing two couples arrested in the raids. ``They believe they were wrongly arrested and their lives were put in disarray for no reason.''

Lawyers have filed a total of five lawsuits, on behalf of 10 people, against the Broward Sheriff's Office or individual deputies involved in raiding two swingers' clubs in January and February of 1999. The consenting adults want money for the humiliation they suffered. Three of the suits were filed within the past five weeks and all but one is in federal court.

The men and women are among 55 club patrons and employees arrested on lewdness charges by masked deputies carrying automatic weapons. None was found guilty of a crime and most of those arrested had their cases dropped by prosecutors.

Still, the arrests helped Jay Leno add a few jokes to his opening monologue. They gave 48 Hours viewers a scintillating reminder of the go-go 1970s, Broward County-style. And they created a stir in South Florida workplaces, forcing some people to leave jobs, accept transfers or avert stares.

Among the plaintiffs: Tonya Whyte, who claims she was put on administrative leave from her teaching job and that the state tried to decertify her. The plaintiffs also include Raymond Lynette Hall, both in law enforcement at the time of the arrests.

Teams of sheriffs deputies raided two clubs four years ago -- Trapeze II in Fort Lauderdale and Athena's Forum in Pompano Beach -- using undercover officers who wore towels and watched men and women take their clothes off and perform sexual acts.

Four of the 10 people suing admit they had sexual contact in the clubs.

Their lawsuits claim deputies made false arrests, because a judge ruled that someone other than a police officer has to be offended by allegedly lewd behavior to make it a crime. One couple, Lloyd and Alyse List, claim their rights were violated when deputies searched their personal belongings, including a locker assigned to Lloyd List.

Sheriff Ken Jenne's public information office was closed Monday and there was no comment from BSO about the lawsuits. After the raids, in a July 2000 interview, he said they were ordered by a subordinate without his knowledge.

The sheriff's office had conducted a similar raid in 1997, arresting 17 people at a club called Pickles. Two patrons sued the sheriff's office and settled for $5,000 and $6,000.

The 1999 raids became a cause celebre for the swinger culture, with a report in Playboy magazine and chatter on the Internet. Trapeze owner Alan Mostow's story was featured in a Hustler magazine story titled ``Revenge of the Florida Swingers.''

Beverly Pohl and Bruce Rogow, representing Jenne and the deputies, say the current batch of claims do not amount to false arrests. The deputies who made the arrests had probable cause to believe the men and women were breaking the law, Pohl said.

Although some of the plaintiffs denied sexual activity, officers consistently and explicitly described sexual activity in every case, she said. And even if they weren't engaging in sex, being in a lewd club is enough probable cause for an arrest, Rogow said.

Pohl and Rogow make an especially ironic defense team for the sheriff.

In the early 1990s, they sparred with former Broward County Sheriff Nick Navarro over the rap act 2 Live Crew, whose performances and records were labeled obscene by the former sheriff. Rogow sided with the rap group back then.

Pohl said this case is different: ``We made an assessment and felt that the sheriff has the better legal argument.''