DAYTONA BEACH SHORES, Fla. — Two workers at an adult entertainment club are suing the city of Daytona Beach Shores on claims an ordinance designed to protect strippers from human trafficking violates their constitutional rights.
Last year, Daytona Beach Shores adopted an ordinance which requires anyone working in adult entertainment to be fingerprinted and licensed.
But an attorney representing the owner of Biggins on A1A said the club is being unfairly targeted.
Biggins gentlemen’s club has had a rocky relationship with the city in its 15-plus years in business.
“It’s important that the government deter human trafficking. This particular ordinance though targets only adult entertainment establishments,” said the club’s attorney.
He said the ordinance seems designed to sensor Biggins and harass its employees.
He said there has never been a human trafficking issue at the business.
The ordinance, which was put in place last month, requires workers at such establishments to obtain a permit from the city and submit their fingerprints annually.
Daytona Beach shores Department of Public Safety Chief Stephan Dembinsky said his agency had support from the attorney general and said it’s only an effort to seek out and stop human trafficking.
“We don’t know if there’s a human trafficking problem in Daytona Beach Shores, but we felt that a city ordinance that we passed would help us discover if we, in fact, have a problem,” said Dembinsky.
But the problem, according to the 33-page lawsuit on behalf of the owners of Biggins and a dancer, Deborah Tricoli, is the city’s ordinance places unreasonable burdens on free speech and freedom of expression, which the city denies.
Cox Media Group
