Johnston Officials Defend ‘Sex-Act’ Arrests of 7 Men
But Several Groups Say the Town’s Scarlet Letter-Like Approach May
Have Contributed to a Man’s Death.
Providence Journal,
January 27, 2002
75 Fountain St., Providence, RI 02902
Fax: 401-277-7346
Email: letters@projo.com
[Names of the victims and store owners, plus identifying information has
been X'ed out so as not to further victimize these individuals. The name of
the suicide victim has been retained as his name was widely publicized. -Bob]
By Jonathan D. Rockoff and W. Zachary Malinowski, Journal Staff Writers
JOHNSTON—Four of the men traveled from out of state
to the cinder block building a few hundred yards from Town Hall. Three others
were from Rhode Island.
They were a diverse lot. One was a lawyer, the husband of a federal
magistrate. Another was a high-school teacher. There was also a town official,
a retiree and a convicted sex offender in Massachusetts.
But they arrived, the police say, with a common purpose. As each entered
the building, they walked past sex toys, pornographic videos and X-rated
magazines. All but one headed for the small movie theater in back.
There, as a pornographic film played, the police arrested them for engaging
in various sex acts.
City and police officials trumpeted the Jan. 16 arrests as the latest
effort to crack down on the sex industry in town. They released the suspects’
names and addresses, and warned those considering similar trips to Johnston to
think twice. Critics attacked the tactics, saying it amounted to a Scarlet
Letter-like approach that reinforced homophobia and may have contributed to a
man’s death.
On Jan. 20, one of the suspects killed himself. Stuart Denton, the
55-year-old chairman of the Plainfield (Conn.) Planning and Zoning Commission,
was found hanging in a backyard shed.
"I’m shocked," said Johnston Mayor William R. Macera. "It
just shows the length someone will go to when they are caught up in this kind
of situation. The embarrassment. It shows the kind of pressure that still
exists."
Yet Macera and other town officials defend the undercover sting and say
there may be more in the future. They say the men engaged in
"disgusting" illegal behavior and created a public health hazard.
But lawyers for the suspects and civil-rights advocates argue that the men,
all adults, were engaging in consensual sex behind the closed doors of a
licensed adult-entertainment business. They said the suspects shouldn’t have
become victim to the town’s crackdown on the businesses.
"Suicide is a public health concern, too," said Steven Brown,
head of Rhode Island chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"It’s hard to comprehend who was being bothered by what these people
were doing, if they were doing anything."
Amid all the neon that dominates Johnston’s busiest commercial strip,
Amazing Express, the adult-video store at 1530 Hartford Ave., offers an almost
dull counterpoint. Its boxy exterior is battleship gray, and peeling.
Across the street from a daycare center, there is little indication from
the building’s exterior that the interior is stacked with sex-related
merchandise and features peep-show booths and a pornographic theater.
The undercover operation stemmed from several calls to the local police
early this month, Chief Richard S. Tamburini said.
About 7:45 p.m. Jan. 16, four undercover detectives walked in to take a
look around. According to police reports, one detective checked out the
peep-show area, a strip of booths stretching away from the back of the store.
There, the detective reported, a door to one of the booths opened. [XXXXX], 41, of
[XXXXX]., Woodstock, Conn., exposed himself, the detective
wrote. [XXXXX] was arrested.
The four detectives entered the movie theater, also at the back of the
store, but opposite the peep-show booths. It cost $5 to enter. A pornographic
movie was playing.
The detectives and the six suspects were the only spectators among the 50
dimly-lit seats.
About 25 minutes into the movie, the police allege, [XXXXX], 30,
a [XXXXX] High School teacher, moved to the second row and sat next to one
of the detectives.
"This detective then witnessed the suspect unfasten his pants and
expose" himself, according to the police report.
[XXXXX], 57, of [XXXXX], Attleboro, also was engaged in
a sex act in the theater, police alleged. [XXXXX] is a registered sex offender
in Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, four other men had gathered in a "semi-circle" in the
back of the theater fondling each other.
The police identified the four as [XXXXX], 48, of Arlington, Mass.; [XXXXX], 68, of
[XXXXX], Warwick; [XXXXX], 49, of [XXXXX], Scituate; and Denton.
[XXXXX This paragraph removed entirely to protect one victim's
identity.]
The seven suspects were arrested and taken to the Johnston Police
Department, where they were photographed, fingerprinted and issued summonses
to appear in District Court, Providence, to face criminal misdemeanor charges.
Last week, [XXXXX], [XXXXX] and [XXXXX] pleaded no contest to charges of
disorderly conduct and their cases were filed for a year. That means, if they
stay out of trouble for a year, the convictions will be erased from their
records.
[XXXXX] and [XXXXX] entered not guilty pleas. Denton committed
suicide.
A town of approximately 27,000 residents just west of Providence, Johnston
has been the punch line of many jokes. The state’s garbage is dumped there;
assorted mobsters call it home, and its zany politics are legendary.
For example, in October 2000, Mayor Macera was found with a campaign worker
in a car at the Central Landfill that police say reeked of marijuana. Macera
was not charged.
For years, as many as a half-dozen adult businesses operated within the
city limits. But like many other communities, the town has worked to pressure
the clubs to leave. A 1997 ordinance banned both alcohol and nudity in the
same establishment.
Just three adult businesses remain in Johnston, and the police have
recently conducted undercover investigations at all of them.
Mayor Macera said the community doesn’t need its reputation further
tarnished by becoming a magnet for men who engage in illegal sex at the local
pornographic video store.
He called the activities a "public nuisance and a public health
nuisance."
"We don’t want that in the town," added Macera, pointing out
that a developer recently invested $30 million in a shopping center on Atwood
Avenue, not far from the club. "We don’t want to entertain these kind
of people and that behavior.
"Let them go to their own towns."
Police Chief Tamburini said the seven suspects "knew that anything
goes" at the Johnston cinema.
Tamburini said the stings would continue for the good of the community. The
police are simply enforcing the law, he said. Tamburini didn’t see any
civil-liberties problems because the clubs are public, not private.
"We’re not looking to bat down a door and go into a house to go
after the activity," Tamburini said. "That’s not what we’re
interested in. We’re interested in protecting the general public."
Stephen R. Famiglietti, a lawyer for one of the suspects, said the town’s
efforts to crack down on adult entertainment have made pawns out of adults
patronizing the establishments.
Famiglietti said the U.S. Constitution prevents the town from shuttering
the businesses, so the town has turned to shaming their patrons.
"Because of the First Amendment rights we have, there is no other way
to put that kind of business out of business," Famiglietti said.
Kate Montiero, president of the Rhode Island Alliance for Lesbian and Gay
Civil Rights, faulted Johnston officials for publicly embarrassing the
suspects.
Montiero said the officials who chose to publicize the arrests should not
now profess surprise that Denton committed suicide.
"It’s a tragedy, but for anybody to pretend they’re shocked and
surprised is very disingenuous," Montiero said. "Publicity around
these kinds of arrests has often led to real damage to people’s lives."
Montiero said the police should enforce public sex laws and protect the
public health, but she said there were other ways than using homophobia and
shame.
"If Johnston wants to get rid of certain kinds of establishments, they
need to work with their zoning laws," Montiero said.
The Johnston police aren’t the only ones to arrest patrons at
adult-entertainment businesses and then publicize the arrests.
The Providence police have arrested men on charges of committing sex acts
at Roger Williams Park, on the East Side and at other places around the city,
and the police have touted the operations and released the identities of the
suspects.
In 1994, Providence police arrested four men at various X-rated video
stores around the city on loitering and solicitation charges. The Providence
Journal published their names and addresses. Judges later dropped all of those
cases but one, which was filed on a not-guilty plea.
For the men who have pleaded not guilty in the Amazing Express case, there
is reason to believe that they, too, can prevail.
Kevin F. McHugh, an assistant city solicitor in Providence who has
litigated a dozen cases involving strip clubs, questioned whether the charges
would stand.
McHugh said communities throughout the country have tried enacting
ordinances restricting the behavior of adult-entertainment patrons.
"But you don’t see a lot of those ordinances because they are
difficult to enforce," McHugh said. "It’s an enforcement
nightmare: You have to have someone complain, and the police going in there
all the time."
Most communities, McHugh said, have turned to zoning to curb the clubs,
limiting adult-entertainment establishments to industrial areas and
restricting their sale of alcohol.
Business registration forms filed with the Johnston town clerk list [XXXXX]
as president of Amazing Express’s parent company, and [XXXXX] as the store manager. They could not be reached for comment.
Johnston Town Council President Robert V. Russo said he expects to hold a
"show-cause" hearing on the video store’s operation.
Russo said that the council could issue a warning, suspend the store’s
business license or shut it down. The store’s management will have a chance
to launch a defense.
The council president said he supports the police and their arrests of
store patrons.
"Do I feel bad that these men were caught? Yes," Russo said.
"But it’s a public facility. Anybody in the public could be exposed to
this."
- With reports from Bob Jagolinzer
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