In addition, the city and the corporation also have a two-day magistrate’s hearing in Warren County Common Pleas Court concerning its local permit to operate a sexually oriented business. That hearing is slated for Oct. 8-9.
Attorney David Chicarelli, who represents the club owner, said he will seek a continuance in the scheduled magistrate’s hearing in Warren County because of the hearing date set by the state liquor control commission.
A Warren County judge previously found the corporation not guilty of any criminal liability for felony charges stemming from a local and state investigation that started in December 2016.
After a one-day bench trial on March 21 and the review of briefs from the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office and defense counsel, Common Pleas Judge Timothy Tepe issued his decision April 12.
The judge had to decide if a corporation can be held criminally liable for actions by someone who is not a high-level manager or someone who sets company policy. In this case, Tepe found the manager did not fit the description of a “high-level manager” and that the corporation was not responsible for that individual’s criminal actions.
Tepe found the corporation not guilty on all six charges, which included felony cocaine trafficking and other drug charges. A seventh count for illegally operating a sexually oriented business, a first-degree misdemeanor charge, was dismissed at the March 21 trial.
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