Solana Beach

Solana Beach officials will review the arrest report and charges arising from Richard Henry Vander’s arrest Friday before deciding whether to issue Vander a teen-age dance permit, the city manager said Monday.

City Manager Michael Huse said Vander has been notified by letter that his application to reopen the Distillery West disco has been put on hold pending further evaluation.

Vander, 35, was arrested at Distillery West on suspicion of possessing cocaine and being a felon in possession of a handgun.

Conviction on either charge would mean an automatic rejection of his bid for a teen-age dance permit. But Huse said officials will probably not wait until after Vander’s criminal case before deciding whether to issue the permit.

City Atty. Dan Hentschke said that, even before his latest arrest, Vander’s criminal background provided sufficient legal ground for the city to reject his bid for a permit. Before the arrest, Huse had said Vander deserved a chance to “prove himself.”

Vander was arrested after Sheriff’s Deputies Rick Ellington and Bob Goohs went to Distillery West to ask him about an unrelated investigation.

Vander was not a suspect in that investigation and Vander was aware that the two plainclothes officers were deputies, said Sgt. John Walker of the Sheriff’s Department street narcotics team.

The deputies became suspicious when Vander tried to rub out some white powder on a small mirror, Walker said. The deputies seized the powder and after Vander consented to a search, they found additional powder in a cigarette pack, as well as a loaded .38-caliber handgun in Vander’s desk, Walker said.

Vander was booked on two felonies at County Jail in Vista and released on $5,000 bond.