Vander Held on Suspicion of Cocaine Possession

Richard Henry Vander was arrested Friday at his Solana Beach teen disco on suspicion of possession of cocaine and being a felon in possession of a firearm, just a week after winning city approval to reopen the disco over opposition from the Sheriff’s Department.

Solana Beach officials immediately said they would re-evaluate Vander’s controversial bid to run Distillery West as a non-alcoholic nightclub for youths age 16 to 20.

Last week, City Manager Michael Huse said he would issue a permit to Vander because he deserved a chance to “prove himself,” despite a criminal record for narcotics, weapons violations and stolen property in Texas and San Diego.

Vander, 35, a former music store operator and bartender in a topless bar, has repeatedly said he wanted to provide a place for teen-agers to have fun and stay away from alcohol and drugs.

Vander had not yet received the teen dance permit because he and Planning Director Steve Apple were still ironing out land-use restrictions ordered by the City Council involving noise, parking and security. Teen-agers had been working to prepare the nightspot for a gala reopening.

Vander was arrested at 1:40 p.m. at Distillery West, on Sierra Avenue across the street from the city’s beachfront park. He was booked into County Jail in Vista and was being held in lieu of $5,000 bail.

Sheriff’s Deputy George Gardner said Vander was arrested by two deputies from the Sheriff’s Department narcotics street team. One-sixteenth of an ounce of cocaine and a .38-caliber revolver were found in Vander’s desk, Gardner said.

Gardner, spokesman for the department’s Encinitas station, said he did not know what information led the deputies to Distillery West or whether Vander had been under investigation. No search warrant was used and Vander consented to a search of the premises, Gardner said.

Huse was at a conference in Irvine and unavailable for comment, but Apple and City Atty. Daniel Hentschke both said Vander’s permit application will now be re-evaluated. Mayor Margaret Schlesinger, who had backed Huse’s earlier decision, said the council will meet as soon as possible to discuss the situation.

“I favor not allowing somebody with this problem to run a teen club in our city,” Schlesinger said after learning of Vander’s arrest Friday.

“He had told us he would run a clean operation, that he had learned his lesson, that he was older now. We wanted to believe him, but I guess we can’t.”

Hentschke said that, even before Vander’s latest arrest, the city would have been on solid legal ground if it had decided to reject the permit application because of his criminal past.

The Sheriff’s Department--which made his criminal record available to city officials but not to the public--had strongly recommended that the city not issue a teen permit to Vander.

The city’s teen dance club ordinance, adopted last summer, says that any conviction involving moral turpitude, alcohol or drugs within the previous five years is an automatic reason for rejection of an application.

The ordinance also has broader language allowing officials to consider the moral character of persons associated with such a club. Specifically, the ordinance says a permit can be denied, or revoked, to protect the health, safety or public morals of the community’s teen-agers.

Vander served a 15-month prison sentence in Texas ending in 1980 for selling cocaine and receiving a stolen stereo. He had earlier been convicted of four misdemeanors in Texas, for theft, carrying a weapon, possessing a controlled substance and passing bad checks.

Vander served 79 days in San Diego County Jail in 1981 for receiving stolen property--a car--and was sent back to jail in 1984 for violating probation.

On Monday, Vander pleaded guilty in Vista Municipal Court to two misdemeanor charges arising from run-ins with deputies in April and August at Distillery West. Those charges included not having a licensed manager on the premises and allowing minors into the club without a permit.

Vander was placed on informal probation Monday, and Hentschke said the guilty plea would not have hurt Vander’s chances to get the teen permit.

In announcing the decision last week to issue the teen dance permit, City Manager Huse noted that Vander had no criminal convictions in the last five years.

Huse said that although he was concerned about Vander’s background, he was willing to give him a chance because the public had rallied in support of a teen nightspot. Distillery West would be the only disco available for coastal teen-agers.

Two dozen teens and half a dozen parents had pleaded with the City Council on Oct. 20 to allow Distillery West to reopen to provide an alternative to unsupervised teen parties where drugs and alcohol are plentiful.

Support for Vander had remained despite an article Oct. 10 in The Times revealing his criminal history.

“Parents literally begged us to give him a chance because the need for a place for teens is so great,” Schlesinger said. “We were willing to hold our breath and take a chance. Not now.”

Vander’s supporters Friday appeared shaken by news of his arrest.

“I can’t believe it,” said Pamela Inman, an Encinitas mother of two teen-agers, who had testified on Vander’s behalf. “He must be sabotaging himself. This is terrible for the teen-agers who believed in him.”

Vander, who lives in El Cajon, had several skirmishes with Solana Beach officials and sheriff’s deputies after opening Distillery West in April. He devised a plan to allow teens into the club by having them sign an agreement naming him as their guardian for a night.

The city stripped him of his adult dance permit, but a judge in late May ruled in his favor, striking down the guardian plan but ordering the adult license restored. In August, Vander was arrested for allowing teens into the club, and in September, his adult dance permit was revoked.

In the past, Vander, one of nine children, has blamed his brothers for many of his troubles.

Vander on Oct. 9 told The Times that the misdemeanor convictions listed under his name by Houston authorities were actually those of his brother. He also asserted that he pleaded guilty to the stolen car charge in San Diego to protect yet another brother.

He is suing a third brother in San Diego Superior Court for allegedly ordering a pit bull dog to attack him at Fiesta Island last year.