Witnesses tell of drug use, deals at Go Go

By Elise Franco

YOUNGSTOWN — Austintown Township officials say the Go Go Cabaret is a public nuisance and should remain closed.

Judge Lou A. D’Apolito heard from six witnesses Friday during an injunction hearing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Testimony will resume Monday morning.

The witnesses testified for county prosecutors seeking to keep the cabaret closed.

Police raided the club about two weeks ago, making arrests on drug allegations.

The cabaret has been in operation since December 2007 and has been the source of police, fire and zoning complaints. The prosecution said the business has become an Austintown nuisance.

Atty. Robert Bush Jr. said the prosecution plans to show proof of not only drug use and trafficking inside the club, but also prostitution, underage drinking and lewd behavior.

“Large amounts of [bodily fluids], condoms and men’s underwear were found in the fantasy rooms at the cabaret,” Bush said in his opening statement. “Condoms and sex coupons were found in the owner Sebastian Rucci’s personal office.”

Most of Friday’s testimony focused on alleged drug use and trafficking inside the club by patrons and employees.

Austintown Detective Sgt. Jeff Solic said an investigation that began in December 2008 used confidential informants who bought drugs from Go Go employees.

Solic said the source would enter the club hooked up to audio and video. He or she would attempt to buy drugs from employees inside, then turn any evidence over to officers.

Solic said informants were able to purchase heroin and crack cocaine from three different cabaret employees on at least six occasions from January to May.

“On Jan. 9, the informant relayed that a dancer was selling heroin at the cabaret,” he said. “A dancer named Stephanie Yash offered coke or heroin” in $20 bags.

Solic said the informant purchased heroin from Yash, 24, of Girard, and William Watt, 25, of Girard, both cabaret employees, on several occasions.

Another informant was able to purchase both heroin and crack cocaine from a club dancer named Shannon Graves, 20, of Struthers, Solic testified.

Yash, Watt and Graves were charged with drug trafficking when the club was raided May 1.

Solic said Yash “admitted to selling to patrons at least three times. She said she routinely sold crack to other employees during business hours and outside the business.”

Austintown Trustee Lisa Oles testified that the Clarkins Drive club has had a poor reputation. “There are many people in the community who have formed an opinion,” she said. “There’s a reputation of them not being law-abiding citizens.”

Oles said shortly after the club opened that residents began calling, e-mailing and stopping her to inform her of things they’d seen at and around the Go Go.

“Initially, it was regarding distasteful means of advertising,” she said. “Then, many of the allegations relayed to me were about underaged drinking, prostitution, drug dealing and noise.”

Oles said none of the calls she’s taken in relation to the club has been positive.

When defense attorney Martin Yavorcik asked Oles if she’d ever received similar complaints about two other adult entertainment businesses, Club 76 and The Babylon, she said she had not.

Andrew Frost, Austintown fire chief; Robert Neill, former cabaret manager and the former sole shareholder; and Joseph Chamberlain and Kenneth VanHorn, both Ohio Department of Public Safety agents, were also called to testify on behalf of the prosecution.

efranco@vindy.com