Police Charge Porter Ranch House Served as Sex Club for Swingers

A house in a quiet Porter Ranch neighborhood was used as a group sex club until it was shut down on charges of violating city zoning codes, Los Angeles police said Friday.

Robert and Sharon Dow operated a $50-per-couple “swinger’s club” in their home in the 18900 block of Kilfinan Street near Sesnon Boulevard, violating a 1986 zoning ordinance that prohibits operation of a sexually oriented business within 500 feet of a residence, said Sgt. Ken Kreider.

“There was no evidence of prostitution there,” Kreider said. “It was strictly a swingers’ club and strictly a zoning violation.”

If the Dows had just held parties at which sexual activities occurred, the police would have shown “very little interest,” he said. “They’re the ones who upgraded their parties into a retail business.”

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office declined Friday to say if the Dows faced prosecution, saying the case was still under investigation.

Police raided the house May 11 and found 30 people at a “swingers’ party,” Kreider said. As many as 70 people at a time, ranging in age from 30 to 65, would attend parties in a series of rooms decorated in different themes, he said. One room in the house was decorated like a jungle with hanging vines and mattresses, Kreider said.

There were rooms with signs designating them for group sex and others reserved for one couple at a time, Kreider said.

The Dows placed ads in swingers’ magazines, published for couples interested in mate-swapping and group sex, that invited potential swingers to seminars in their home, Kreider said. People attending the free seminars were then invited to the $50 parties, which occurred about every other weekend, Kreider said.

Police began investigating the house in January when they received an anonymous complaint, Kreider said.

Two police officers attended one seminar and then three parties, including the raided May 11 gathering, Kreider said. He said the officers did not disrobe, dress provocatively or participate in the sexual activities.

Denise Osso, who has lived across the street from the house for about two years, said she started noticing unusual activities about six months ago. “All these cars would show up on Saturday nights,” she said, some with personalized license plates containing sexual innuendoes.

On one occasion, Osso said she and some guests saw a door open, “and we could see inside and we saw this woman showing a lot of thigh, wearing baby doll pajamas. That’s when we figured it out.”

The parties were not a major neighborhood concern, she said. “No one ever talked about it. This is a neighborhood where people are more concerned with their lawns than what someone else is doing.”

Osso described the area as an “upper middle class, quiet neighborhood. Tons of kids live here.” The Dows “were real nice folks,” she said. “We talked about the lawns.”

She was not personally offended by the activities, she said. “What consenting adults do on their own is their business.”

The parties were never noisy, Osso said. “We never heard a peep.”