The agents owned the Twins Plus Go-Go Lounge, the federal government said in a new criminal complaint unsealed in New York’s Southern District Court, RT.com reports. The two DEA agents surrendered in Manhattan on Wednesday and are charged with one count of making false statements.
When DEA agents David Polos and Glen Glover stood before a judge, the charges seemed to unfurl at their feet–the men had allegedly neglected to mention under oath to the federal government that they owned and managed the seedy joint, The Daily Beast reports. They employed women who weren’t legally permitted to work in the U.S., and the women, in turn, performed sex in exchange for money at the club.
This is a slap in the face for the agency, said one agent who spoke to the Daily Beast on condition of anonymity.
“It shouldn’t have been done, and as an agent I’m pissed,” the person said. “Sometimes good people screw up and do stupid things.”
And there were apparently stupid problems at the seedy establishment as well The New York Daily News reports.
There was warm beer, a critter infestation, and a shortage of mop heads, and the agents complained, documents say.
“I fixed the chair … can you tell (an unidentified person) to stop having sex with (a stripper) on the chair, it’s just not built to handle all the added weight,” one manager sent in text to Glover in October 2011. Later that year, in December, Glover wrote to an employee “it’s nice to see your (sic) not checking the lap dance rooms condoms everywhere.”
Polos, who retired from the agency last month, was an official with the DEA in New York City, while Glover was a DEA civilian employee, The New York Times reports. He has been put on administrative leave.
If convicted, each man faces as much as five years in prison.
Polo and Glover were involved in “important and sensitive” law enforcement jobs, Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.
“They also had other secret jobs which they concealed from DEA in order to maintain their national security clearance, betraying the oaths they had taken and creating needless risk for the agency they worked for,” he said.
The charges were announced by Bharara and officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General.
Apparently, according to the complaint, Polos, 51, and Glover, 45, supervised the club via computer and smartphone apps while on paid DEA shifts, RT.com reports. By allegedly failing to declare outside employment, the men could have placed themselves “in proximity to crime” and at risk for being blackmailed.
Records show that the club was successful, with Glover having made a series of deposits totaling $600,000 from 2011 to 2014. The club was cited regularly, however, by state regulators because the dancers showed too much flesh and took money for sex in private lap dance rooms, the complaint stated.
“At this time we cannot comment on the specifics of the matter as it’s an ongoing investigation,” Erin Mulvey, a DEA spokeswoman told the New York Post, per RT.com.
Evidence includes surveillance reports and intercepted texts, and a video recovered during a search of the club included recordings from inside the private rooms. The recordings showed that “there appear to be multiple instances of sexual contact between dancers and patrons, with money exchanged afterward.”
There’s other evidence as well, including intercepted text messages. In one message Polos joked about bringing President Barack Obama to the club so that he could “check out” some of the dancers, RT.com reports.
In another instance, intercepted texts showed Glover telling an employee he was bringing two state troopers to the club, and the troopers, he said, weren’t aware that he was the owner. The manager responded that he would instruct the other employees.
The complaint also says that Glover was listed on tax paperwork as the owner of the company that purchased the club in 2010. Some of the money used in the purchase was traced to one of his accounts, the New York Times reports. Polos lent money for the purchase of the club in return for an option to formally become an owner, the complaint, signed by FBI special agent Hannah Buch, stated.
This was the preferred arrangement for Polos, in part because he didn’t want to have his name on documents directly associated with the club, the complaint reported.
As part of managing the business, Glover collected “house fees” from the dancers, most of whom were undocumented immigrants from Brazil or Russia. In general, each dancer paid the club $10 to $30 a night in order to perform there, per the complaint.
Polos supervised the DEA’s New York Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Strike Force up until his retirement last month. His task force was comprised of agents from multiple agencies which targeted major drug-trafficking organizations, RT.com reports.
Attorneys for both men struck an upbeat tone, the New York Times reports.
Outside the courtroom, Polos’s lawyer, Avraham C. Moskowitz said that his client had a distinguished career at the DEA.
“We believe these charges are unwarranted and meritless, and we look forward to fighting the charges and having Mr. Polos exonerated,” he said.
Glover’s lawyer, Cathy Fleming echoed a similar sentiment.
“Mr. Glover is a well-respected, highly decorated long-term DEA employee,” she said. “We’re going to try this case in the courts, not in the press.”