DALLAS The City of Dallas says it has found a second business owned by a man who claims to be operating churches which officials say are clubs.
The latest case involves a building on Harry Hines Boulevard that's licensed as a church. The windows are tinted and the doors are padlocked. It sits inside an industrial complex and has no religious markings on it.
Even so, the owner says this is a church.
The city calls it a swingers club.
In a lawsuit obtained by News 8, the City of Dallas says owner Glenn Hudson has a certificate of occupancy for a church, mosque or synagogue.
But the suit alleges that this business is really called The Playground, and described as a swingers club that is a business that caters to adults, often couples, who wish to engage in random consensual sexual activities with other adults other than their spouses.
The city filed the lawsuit to shut down The Playground.
According to the documents, Dallas police sent undercover officers inside. They found flat screen TVs showing porn, topless female dancers, and a VIP room where customers have access to beds and condoms.
The city maintains that this is an unlicensed sexually-oriented business.
Last week, News 8 reported the city filed a lawsuit against Hudson for operating a club called The DarkSide. Hudson claims that it, too, is a church but the city attorney and police say it's a rave club where drugs are sold to teens.
It was just a dance hall, and drugs were rampant, said Assistant City Attorney Melissa Miles. Selling of drugs were rampant and our investigators felt the group looked young.
Dallas police arrested the club's manager, Tommy Gunn, for allegedly selling drugs at the club and for indecency with a child. Gunn has since been fired.
According to the city, Hudson claims he is an ordained minister, but they discovered he obtained his license from an online Web site.
His criminal history includes two arrests for marijuana possession and one for unlawfully carrying a weapon. Hudson pleaded no contest to all three charges and is serving probation.
The city tried to close The DarkSide at least temporarily, but a judge denied the order and allowed Hudson to open for business on Friday night.
Now, the city hopes the judge will listen to this new evidence and shut both places down.
E-mail rlopez@wfaa.com
