It's been a rough year for strip clubs in South Florida.
Diamond's Cabaret in North Miami Beach was gutted by fire and lost its late-night license in the same week in June. Less than a week before that, the Cheetah strip club in Hallandale Beach was shut down after an undercover investigation discovered prostitution and rampant drug use in the club.
Now comes word that Palm Beach's Platinum Showgirls was a den of prostitution and drug sales, according to the Palm Beach Post.
The Boynton Beach Police Department has charged 30 employees of the club with over 50 felony and misdemeanor charges after the club was raided Friday night.
Police had been placed undercover in the club for the past four months, and the club was shut down temporarily after the raid.
Platinum Showgirls owner Matt Barrow, 52, was charged with racketeering, felony public nuisance, deriving support from prostitution, allowing employees to engage in prohibited acts and drugs-related charges. Barrow was released last night from Palm Beach County Jail on $26,000 bond.
Among the others arrested were club managers Kenneth Willig, 45, and Gregory Lenox, 34, were both charged with racketeering, felony public nuisance, deriving support from prostitution and allowing employees to engage in prohibited acts.
Lily Gibeaut, 51, who police called the "madam" of the operation, was also arrested. Gibeaut, Willig and Lenox were all released after posting $21,000 bond.
Platinum is the last strip club in Boynton Beach, though the city is now trying to shut it down permanently.
"I haven't rested in four years," Lythia Thomas, 50, who lives across the street from the club, told the Sun-Sentinel. "The noise, the gunshots, the hell-raising. We can hear all of that. It's not quite nice."
