Hold Put on Stimmel's Accounts, ATC May File Administrative Charges
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Kaitie Vanderpool and Jordan Fouts-
The Prosecutor’s Office said Stimmel won’t be able to use the accounts for business transactions until the hold is removed by the court.
Additionally, charges might be filed by the state Alcohol and Tobacco Commission in relation to the Oct. 30 arrest of Stimmel and four other individuals following an investigation into alleged corrupt business practices at Stimmelators Gentleman’s Club in North Webster.
The ATC may file administrative charges, separate from criminal charges, after performing its own investigation, state excise officer April Tackett said Thursday.
The state commission has the authority to suspend or revoke a bar owner’s liquor license depending on whether the illegal actions can be tied to the bar itself or to its employees, she said. And though a felony conviction in itself does not prevent a bar owner from holding a license under Indiana code, she said it may serve as grounds for a local alcohol board to deny license renewal.
Stimmel’s alcohol permit was renewed Oct. 3.
Stimmel, owner and operator of the club at 114 E. Washington St., North Webster, was charged with three felony counts – corrupt business influence, Class C, and two counts of dealing in a synthetic drug look-alike substance, Class D – following a police investigation between July 1 and Oct. 25, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Oct. 30 with the Prosecutor’s Office by Syracuse Police Department officer James Layne. Stimmel was additionally charged with promoting prostitution, a Class C felony, in an amendment filed Oct. 31 by Sam Whitaker, county prosecutor’s investigator.
A separate probable cause affidavit regarding the prostitution charge is pending, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Layne writes in the Oct. 30 affidavit that between June and October, customers have been purchasing substances from California Dreamin’ which some of them have admitted to law enforcement that they smoke to “get high.” On July 1, undercover officers working with the Centralized Drug Enforcement of Kosciusko County entered California Dreamin’ and asked for two “red eggs,” for which Stimmel charged them $20.
During a phone conversation with Stimmel Oct. 23, an undercover officer made arrangements for three exotic dancers from Stimmelators to perform at a bachelor party and asked about a delivery of some “eggs” to be used at the party, according to the affidavit. Stimmel agreed to deliver the eggs during a meeting the next day for the officers “to make a downpayment for the exotic dancers,” the affidavit says.
Two undercover officers held a pre-arranged meeting with him in Stimmelators the next day, where in a private room they paid $60 for three packages of a substance labeled “White Rabbit” and a similar substance labeled “Yolo.”
Stimmel was held on a $100,000 bond after his Oct. 30 arrest, but bonded out shortly after.
Stimmel was the subject of a raid at his home and club by Internal Revenue Service investigators Sept. 12, 2012. Special Agent Kerry Hannigan of the IRS in Chicago told the Times-Union at the time that she was bound by the law not to talk about specifics of the case, but that the IRS Criminal Investigation Division was executing a warrant on Stimmel.
She could not say what the IRS was investigating or what they had removed from the business and home.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller had announced earlier that month that law enforcement would be taking a more aggressive stance against synthetic drugs, and a new state law allows law enforcement to prosecute businesses selling any substance that could be considered a synthetic drug.
As of December 2012, all three locations of California Dreamin’ – North Webster, Albion and Elkhart – were known to sell a substance called B2. Stimmel told the Albion News Sun after the opening that location that the substance is “aroma therapy” and not meant to be smoked.[[In-content Ad]]
Latest News
E-Editions
The Prosecutor’s Office said Stimmel won’t be able to use the accounts for business transactions until the hold is removed by the court.
Additionally, charges might be filed by the state Alcohol and Tobacco Commission in relation to the Oct. 30 arrest of Stimmel and four other individuals following an investigation into alleged corrupt business practices at Stimmelators Gentleman’s Club in North Webster.
The ATC may file administrative charges, separate from criminal charges, after performing its own investigation, state excise officer April Tackett said Thursday.
The state commission has the authority to suspend or revoke a bar owner’s liquor license depending on whether the illegal actions can be tied to the bar itself or to its employees, she said. And though a felony conviction in itself does not prevent a bar owner from holding a license under Indiana code, she said it may serve as grounds for a local alcohol board to deny license renewal.
Stimmel’s alcohol permit was renewed Oct. 3.
Stimmel, owner and operator of the club at 114 E. Washington St., North Webster, was charged with three felony counts – corrupt business influence, Class C, and two counts of dealing in a synthetic drug look-alike substance, Class D – following a police investigation between July 1 and Oct. 25, according to a probable cause affidavit filed Oct. 30 with the Prosecutor’s Office by Syracuse Police Department officer James Layne. Stimmel was additionally charged with promoting prostitution, a Class C felony, in an amendment filed Oct. 31 by Sam Whitaker, county prosecutor’s investigator.
A separate probable cause affidavit regarding the prostitution charge is pending, according to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Layne writes in the Oct. 30 affidavit that between June and October, customers have been purchasing substances from California Dreamin’ which some of them have admitted to law enforcement that they smoke to “get high.” On July 1, undercover officers working with the Centralized Drug Enforcement of Kosciusko County entered California Dreamin’ and asked for two “red eggs,” for which Stimmel charged them $20.
During a phone conversation with Stimmel Oct. 23, an undercover officer made arrangements for three exotic dancers from Stimmelators to perform at a bachelor party and asked about a delivery of some “eggs” to be used at the party, according to the affidavit. Stimmel agreed to deliver the eggs during a meeting the next day for the officers “to make a downpayment for the exotic dancers,” the affidavit says.
Two undercover officers held a pre-arranged meeting with him in Stimmelators the next day, where in a private room they paid $60 for three packages of a substance labeled “White Rabbit” and a similar substance labeled “Yolo.”
Stimmel was held on a $100,000 bond after his Oct. 30 arrest, but bonded out shortly after.
Stimmel was the subject of a raid at his home and club by Internal Revenue Service investigators Sept. 12, 2012. Special Agent Kerry Hannigan of the IRS in Chicago told the Times-Union at the time that she was bound by the law not to talk about specifics of the case, but that the IRS Criminal Investigation Division was executing a warrant on Stimmel.
She could not say what the IRS was investigating or what they had removed from the business and home.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller had announced earlier that month that law enforcement would be taking a more aggressive stance against synthetic drugs, and a new state law allows law enforcement to prosecute businesses selling any substance that could be considered a synthetic drug.
As of December 2012, all three locations of California Dreamin’ – North Webster, Albion and Elkhart – were known to sell a substance called B2. Stimmel told the Albion News Sun after the opening that location that the substance is “aroma therapy” and not meant to be smoked.[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092