Key West’s ‘Scrub Club’ reportedly scrubbing debit cards of adult-entertainment clients

Key West has a long-held reputation as an anything-goes party town that tolerates -- and in many cases facilitates -- an array of bawdy pastimes.

A stroll down Duval Street yields strip clubs, clothing-optional bars and establishments catering to alternative lifestyles. But the Adult Entertainment Club, formerly and colloquially known as the Scrub Club, at 1221 Duval is different.

In the 765-day period between Jan. 1, 2011, and this past Feb. 4, Key West police logged 301 calls related to the Adult Entertainment Club -- that's a call every 2.5 days, a staggering number for an 800-square-foot place in a neighborhood otherwise populated by cafes, wine shops, boutiques and art galleries.

The main complaint: Unauthorized use of customers' debit or credit cards, often to the tune of thousands of dollars.

The club's website, signs and brochures offer scantily clad women available for "bachelor parties, fantasy and fetish shows, nude snorkeling, nude parasailing [and] divorce parties." It offers "free shuttle and 24/7 escort service."

But the voluminous police reports, along with a long trail of Internet posts, message-board threads and complaints with the Better Business Bureau of Southeast Florida and the Caribbean, paint a far different picture of what goes on inside. But barring specific complaints, the Key West Police Department has no plan to take a closer look.

The pattern is usually the same:

It's late at night and an intoxicated man steps inside, where he pays an entrance fee, usually more than $100. That begins a conversation with one of the female employees, described on the business website as "classy and sophisticated," leading to a private room.

From there, it's not clear what goes on other than the price goes up, the man supplies his debit card and personal identification number to the woman -- he's generally nude at this point -- and she leaves the room. Later on, the man notices unauthorized charges on his card and contacts police.

Case in point: On Feb. 4 around 2 a.m., a Russian tourist who told police "he had been drinking" went into the club and agreed to pay $100, according to a report prepared by Officer David Fraga.

"While in the club [the tourist] said he gave his ATM card to one of the employees along with his PIN." Four hours later, "He saw there was a total amount of about $2,500 charged on his card."

Fraga told the man to "go to the business and fill out a complaint form for the issue."

A few days earlier, on Jan. 31, a man from St. Johns, Fla., called police to report that on Jan. 26, when he was in town visiting, he went into the Adult Entertainment Club and "agreed to pay $200 with one of the females working on this date for sex," according to a report prepared by Officer Tricia Milliken.

He also said he agreed to tip the female $100 prior to the services being rendered and gave her his Visa debit card and PIN. He "stated he expected sex from the female and she would not give him what he expected, so he got dressed and left the establishment."

When he returned to St. Johns, he said he realized his card was charged $1,000, not $100. Milliken provided him with a case number.

Police spokeswoman Alyson Crean said the department has heard the Adult Entertainment Club is about more than just "entertainment," but that the department focuses its attention on higher-priority initiatives like dealing with aggressive vagrants drinking and panhandling on city streets, and quelling drug dealing.

"We do not get complaints of prostitution," she said via e-mail. "Certainly there are intimations and innuendoes that this activity may be occurring. That being said, without any complaints, there are other, higher priorities set by the community and by the department."

"Look at the issue of vagrancy and panhandling. A task force made up of business owners, residents and even the mayor has told the department that the community will not tolerate certain behaviors, and we have four quality-of-life officers dedicated to seeing that priority is addressed."

"Getting drug dealers off the streets is another issue that the community has made very clear is a top priority for our city. Same thing with reducing incidents of burglary. So in those terms, I would answer that there is no specific enforcement strategy for this business."

The city's Code Compliance Department has been more proactive, fining the business $500 last year after investigating offsite promotional and solicitation activity. Basically, club employees would park their advertisement-emblazoned vehicle in other parts of Old Town and hand out brochures for the business in violation of code.

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Coast Guard Academy workers busted for sex on the job

Officials at the US Coast Guard Academy say a service member and five civilian employees were disciplined for misusing the school's computers and engaging in sex acts during the workday.

Academy spokesman David Santos told The Day of New London on Tuesday that the six people used government computers to send sexually explicit and other inappropriate content, and some of the six participated in consensual sex acts on the grounds of the New London academy.

Santos says the improper activities took place over a 2½-year period.

The service member was not a cadet and was discharged from the Coast Guard. Two civilian workers resigned and three were disciplined.

The academy didn't release the six people's names or details of the punishments, citing the privacy exemption to public records law.

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Marriott skyscraper coming to old Miami Arena site?

Is a massive new skyscraper coming to the site of the old Miami Arena?

Two of the city’s top real estate blogs caused a stir Tuesday when they shared an architect’s video rendering of a huge tower called the Marriott at MWC. The video posted on YouTube by Nichols Brosch’s Igor Reyes was a computer-generated aerial shot of a potential mixed-use complex superimposed on the site. The land is owned by the developers of the proposed Miami World Center, a stretch of lots last recently positioned as a possible home to a Las Vegas Sands casino.

ExMiami .org posted the video first, followed by Curbed Miami, at miami.curbed.com. “If this is an actual thing, and not just an architect's dream, then this is biiiiig news,” Curbed wrote. Shortly after the posts, the Reyes video was made private. Nichols Brosch did not immediately respond to an interview request.

Representatives of the Miami World Center group, which includes Art Falcone and Nitin Mitwani, declined to comment, a spokeswoman said. The old arena site was turned into a park and then sold to the Miami World Center group last year. Marriott spokesman John Wolf said Tuesday: “We are always interested in development opportunities. It would be premature to comment any further.”

DOUGLAS HANKS

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Woman to be sentenced in Rilya Wilson foster child abuse case

To be sentenced Tuesday: the Kendall woman convicted of abusing and kidnapping missing foster child Rilya Wilson over a decade ago.

Geralyn Graham, 67, was convicted by jury last month in a case that roiled Florida’s child welfare agency, which was supposed to monitor the child. The body of Rilya, who was 4 years old when she vanished, has never been found.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez could sentence Graham to as much as life in prison.

Prosecutors believe Graham smothered Rilya with a pillow, disposed of her body near water in South Miami-Dade, then spent years telling conflicting versions of what happened to the child. Jurors, by an 11-1 vote, deadlocked on a count of first-degree murder.

The jury convicted her of kidnapping, two counts of aggravated child abuse and one of child abuse.

The case was significant for the Florida Department of Children & Families, which did not notice the girl was missing for 15 months. Graham told investigators that a mystery DCF worker whisked the child away for mental health treatment.

Graham was later arrested for and convicted of fraud. Based on incriminating statements from her domestic partner, Graham was then charged with aggravated child abuse of Rilya.

Her partner, Pamela Graham, no relation, agreed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of child neglect.

Pamela Graham, a meek shell of a woman, testified at trial that Geralyn Graham would bind the child’s hands to the bed railing with plastic “flex cuffs” and confine Rilya in a laundry room for hours.

A friend of the pair told police that Graham borrowed a dog cage to put Rilya in when she misbehaved, although no could say they saw the child in there as punishment.

Acquaintances also testified that Graham gave conflicting stories about what happened to the girl — to some, she claimed the girl was on a road trip with a “Spanish lady” friend.

A grand jury indicted Geralyn Graham in 2005 after she allegedly confessed in detail to inmate Robin Lunceford, who testified at trial over four days. Two other inmates also testified that Graham, while behind bars, suggested she killed the child.

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Obama to stress jobs in State of the Union speech; audience's message is guns

WASHINGTON — The American public will get a competing mix of rhetoric and imagery in President Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday, a speech that offers a heavy dose on the economy even as it plays out against a visual backdrop dominated by the current national debate over guns.

With the economy still trying to find its footing and with millions still out of work, Obama will make a case for measures and proposals that he says will boost job creation and put the economy on a more upward trajectory. Obama's emphasis underscores a White House recognition that while the president seeks to expand his agenda and build a second-term legacy, the economy remains a major public preoccupation.

AP

President Obama during last year's State of the Union address.

But in the galleries above the rostrum of the House of Representatives where Obama will speak, many of the faces looking down on him will be those of Americans thrust into the politics of gun violence.

First lady Michelle Obama will sit with the parents of a Chicago teenager shot and killed just days after she performed at the president's inauguration. Twenty-two House members have invited people affected by gun violence, according to Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., who pushed the effort. And Republican Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas says he's invited rocker Ted Nugent, a long-time gun control opponent who last year said he would end up "dead or in jail" if Obama won re-election.

That confluence of message and symbolism illustrates where Obama is in his presidency following his re-election.

The economic blueprint he will discuss will have many of the elements Americans have heard before, with its embrace of manufacturing, energy development and education. And in that sense it is a reminder of what was unfulfilled at the end of Obama's first term. But the tragic murders of 26 people at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school in December altered the president's agenda, pushing guns onto a to-do list that already included a new push for an overhaul of immigration law.

As the president addresses gun violence, the cameras are sure to pan the faces in the crowd inside the House chamber, each with a story meant to influence the debate. Obama has proposed a ban on certain weapons and on high-capacity ammunition magazines. He has also called for broader, universal background checks on gun purchasers, a proposal that stands a better chance politically.

Domestic policy will be front and center, but ongoing challenges abroad won't go without mention. On North Korea, which said it successfully detonated a nuclear device Tuesday in defiance of UN warnings, the White House said Obama would make the case that the nuclear program had only further isolated the impoverished nation.

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U.S. Century to OK details of new deal

U.S. Century Bank is expected to sign off on Monday on its letter of intent — the framework for a plan to recapitalize the bank.

Under the deal, a local group of investors, led by Jimmy Tate of Tate Capital and Sergio Rok of Rok Enterprises, will bring in fresh capital and wipe out the Doral bank’s bad loans, while allowing it to operate independently.

The investor group is expected to inject $50 million in capital into the bank, becoming majority owners. In addition, the group will pay about $90 million to buy certain loans, including all $98 million of U.S. Century’s non-performing loans, said U.S. Century President and Chief Executive Carlos J. Dávila. The deal would also provide for a negotiated amount to be paid to the federal government to repay U.S. Century’s $50.2 million in TARP funds.

A definitive agreement, based on the letter of intent, is expected next month. Pending shareholder and regulatory approval, the deal could be completed by mid-year, Dávila said.

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A Super Bowl may be required for Sun Life Stadium fix-up taxes

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said Monday he may require South Florida hosting a Super Bowl first as a condition for using county hotel taxes to fund part of a $400 million renovation of Sun Life Stadium.

At Monday morning news conference announcing a referendum requirement for the taxes, Gimenez also said he would like to have voters give the county the option to withhold the money if the NFL snubs Miami-Dade in its Super Bowl bid.

"I don't want to be eligible for anything," Gimenez said. "I want to be awarded."

Over the weekend, the Dolphins dropped objections to a countywide referendum on their stadium plan and now are pushing for a vote in time for the May 22 meeting of NFL owners to decide between Miami Gardens and the San Francisco area for the 2016 Super Bowl. The loser will take on Houston for the 2017 Super Bowl, but the '16 game is considered the big prize since it is the 50th game.

Gimenez said he would not call for a referendum until he has approved a financing deal with the Dolphins. "We haven't started negotiations. It doesn't mean a deal is going to be done," Gimenez said.

Dee said the Dolphins welcome the referendum, and did not realize it could be held between the team's January unveiling of their financing proposal and the May 22 decision on Super Bowl.

The team has been pushing for tax dollars for Sun Life since 2010, and has not proposed a referendum before. Dee said Monday the Dolphins are confident the public will support the plan.

"We believe a decision by the voters will go our way," Dee said.

The county needs 60 days' notice for a referendum, meaning the language must be approved by commissioners in March.

The Dolphins proposed increasing mainland hotel taxes in Miami-Dade to 7 percent from 6 percent. The increase would require a change in state law, and Dee said the referendum will increase chances of the team's bill passing in Tallahassee.

Gimenez said a special election would cost between $3 million and $4 million, and that state law bars a private company from reimbursing taxpayers for an election. Dee said he would defer to Gimenez on the reimbursement question.

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1 dead after blaze rips through Harlem apartment building

A deadly fire swept through a Harlem housing project -- killing one, authorities said.

The blaze broke out on the second floor of a building in the Taft Houses on Fifth Avenue and West 115th Street at 4:15 a.m., the FDNY said.

Rescue workers pulled a 30-year-old man from the apartment in cardiac arrest, police said. The victim was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Firefighters extinguished the flames and placed the fire under control at 4:45 a.m., the FDNY said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Fire Marshal, police said.

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Green cards for sale at a South Beach hotel: Competition is on for EB5 investment visas

If David Hart gets his way, South Beach’s 42-room Astor Hotel will be on a hiring spree this year as it adds concierge service, a roof-top pool, an all-night diner, spa and private-car service available 24 hours a day.

New hires will be crucial to Hart’s business plan, since foreign investors have agreed to pay about $50,000 for each job created by the Art Deco boutique.

The Miami immigration lawyer specializes in arranging visas for wealthy foreign citizens under a special program that trades green cards for investment dollars. Businesses get the money and must use it to boost payroll. The minimum investment is $500,000 to add at least 10 jobs to the economy. That puts the pressure on Hart and his partners at the Astor to beef up payroll dramatically, with plans to take a hotel with roughly 20 employees to one with as many as 100 workers.

“My primary responsibility is to make something happen here over the next two years that will create the jobs we need,’’ Hart said a few steps away from a nearly empty restaurant on a recent weekday morning. “It’s all going to be transformed.”

Though established in the 1990s, the “EB5” visas soared in popularity during the recession as developers sought foreign cash to replace dried-up credit markets in the United States.

Chinese investors dominate the transactions, accounting for about 65 percent of the nearly 9,000 EB5 visas granted since 2006. South Korea finishes a distant second at 12 percent and the United Kingdom holds the third-place slot at 3 percent. If Latin America and the Caribbean were one country, they would rank No. 4 on the list, with 231 EB5 visas granted, or about 3 percent of the total.

Competition has gotten stiffer for the deep-pocketed foreign investors willing to pay for green cards. The University of Miami’s bio-science research park near the Jackson hospital system raised $20 million from 40 foreign investors under the EB5 program, most of them from Asia. The money went into the park’s first building; visa brokers are waiting to see if the second building will proceed so they can offer a new pool of potential green-card sales.

In Hollywood, the stalled $131 million Margaritaville resort had hoped to raise about $75 million from EB5 investors before ditching that plan last year to pursue more traditional financing. A retail complex by developer Jeff Berkowitz in Coral Gables also launched a program to raise $50 million in EB5 money for the project, Gables Station. Hart worked with other EB5 investors to back pizza restaurants in Miami and South Beach. A limestone mine in Martin County also was backed by EB5 dollars.

This year, the city of Miami itself is expected to get into the business by setting up an EB5 program to raise foreign cash for a range of city businesses and developments. The first would be the tallest building in the city — developer Tibor Hollo’s planned 85-story apartment tower, the Panorama, in downtown Miami.

With a construction cost of about $700 million, Miami’s debut EB5 venture hopes to raise about $100 million from foreign investors, said Laura Reiff, the Greenberg Traurig lawyer in Virginia working with Miami on the EB5 effort. “This is a marquis project,’’ she said.

The arrangement is a novel one for Miami, with the city planning to help a private developer raise funds overseas for a new high-rise. And it would allow Hollo and future participants to tout the city of Miami’s endorsement when competing with other Miami-area projects for EB5 dollars. “We will have the benefit of the brand of the city of Miami,’’ said Mikki Canton, the $6,000-a-month city consultant heading Miami’s EB5 effort. “A lot of these others are privately owned and they won’t have that brand.”

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Miami-Dade mayor disappointed at Major League Baseball over All-Star Game

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez was swept into office in part because of his opposition to the public financing for the Marlins’ new baseball stadium.

But that doesn’t mean he was happy when Major League Baseball awarded the 2015 All-Star Game to Cincinnati. Marlins President David Samson said last year he hoped to host the game, continuing a streak of All-Star games at new ballparks. That was before the team decimated its roster and chopped its payroll after last season.

After MLB Commissioner Bud Selig made the Cincinnati announcement last month, Gimenez sent him a letter expressing his disappointment. And the mayor phoned Selig last week, according to Gimenez’s calendar.

“[N]ow that the facility is built and operating, it is my responsibility to ensure its greatest benefit to our residents,” Gimenez wrote.

“Public sentiment regarding the Stadium is at an all-time low, and now we are further disappointed by the recent announcement...[I]t is clear that Miami has been benched once again, this time by Major League Baseball.”

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