An order to show cause issued by the Denver Department of Excise & Licenses on July 3 outlines how the Denver Police Department conducted a sting operation at the RCI Hospitality-owned strip joint on March 31 and found that the establishment broke ten different laws at the state and local levels related to prostitution and public indecency.
The Denver City Attorney’s Office requested that Excise & Licenses pursue disciplinary action against PT’s after the DPD conducted its sting operation. The order to show cause says the investigation was spurred by an anonymous tip in January that “employees of PT’s Showclub were offering to perform sexual acts in exchange for money, and that the younger dancers were actively pressured into having sexual intercourse for money by older members of the club."
When an undercover officer went to the club as part of the sting, he was approached by a dancer who allegedly asked if he was a cop — and then proceeded to offer him sex services.
“After a brief discussion, during which the dancer asked the undercover officer whether he was in fact a police officer, the dancer offered and agreed to have sex with the officer in exchange for $600,” recounts the show-cause order. “Upon reaching this agreement, the dancer indicated that they would have to move to a separate room inside the club in order to have sex.”
Asking if someone is a police officer can be considered evidence of soliciting prostitution.
After the agreement was made, the undercover cop gave the bust signal and uniformed officers entered PT's to arrest the dancer for prostitution. While authorities were coming in, another stripper walked up to one of the cops and fondled his genitals "without warning" — leading to public-indecency charges that were resolved by the city attorney's office through a guilty plea for disturbing the peace.
Local and state law both prohibit prostitution, though the state level is more specific about how establishments can and can’t conduct business. No strip joint licensed in Colorado the way PT’s Showclub is currently licensed may allow anyone to perform “sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation or any sexual acts which are prohibited by law.”
And it’s not just those who perform those acts who can get into trouble. Those who have control of the place where the prostitution occurs can face charges, as well.
Anyone who “knowingly grants or permits the use of such place for the purpose of prostitution; or permits the continued use of such place for the purpose of prostitution after becoming aware of facts or circumstances from which he should reasonably know that the place is being used for purposes of prostitution” is keeping a place of prostitution, the law states.
That’s illegal in Colorado.
The show-cause order was sent to the club’s manager, Matthew Donelan, along with Eric Langan — the president of RCI Hospitality Holdings, PT’s parent company. The strip joint is one of the many nightclub brands currently operated by RCI Hospitality, and Denver is listed on RCI’s website as one of the company’s larger units.
The parties must appear at a show cause hearing on August 10 to prove to the city why PT’s on West Evans should not have its adult cabaret and tavern liquor licenses suspended or revoked. It could also reach a stipulation with Denver officials before the hearing.
PT's has made headlines in the past, with former owner Troy Lowrie — who sold the chain in 2021 — busted in a 2011 prostitution sting (the charges were dropped) and its dancers allegedly getting ripped off by an illegal system that charged them to perform and forced them to cover other employees' earnings out of tips they received. There have also been violent incidents both inside and outside the club.
In the late ’60s, the building in which the strip club is housed was home to Denver's short-lived but legendary music venue the Family Dog, which hosted such iconic acts as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead.
PT's Showclub did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
