KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A Kissimmee club is closed because investigators said what looked like a cigar and wine bar on the outside doubled as a front for strippers on the inside.
The club sits in the heart of downtown Kissimmee where the city is trying to revitalize its business corridor.
The manager of the Havana Room told Channel 9 he had strippers working at the business, but claims he did nothing wrong.
A 13-page report detailing an undercover sting said an officer was able to bring his own liquor to the business and hire women to strip in a private room for less than $450.
The Osceola County Investigative Bureau also said the Havana Room was violating liquor laws and selling drugs.
Manager David Pagan, who said his wife owns the club, told Channel 9 the business has a private room where customers could pay for strippers, which, according to investigators, would dance on a pole and give lap dances.
“It wasn’t like I opened my doors for a strip club. It was a bar that had a private room in the back,” Pagan said.
But investigators said the adult entertainment was against city ordinance and the business didn’t have the proper permits to operate as such.
Pagan said he would have stopped if the city told him to, but instead investigators shut down the business.
“They should have fined me. Anything could have happened besides them closing us down and searching all the patrons, and holding us here like they did,” Pagan said.
Kissimmee city leaders may revoke the business’ wine and beer license so it can’t operate anymore, but Pagan said even if he had the chance to reopen, he wouldn’t.