Accused Sex-Club Operator Denies Charges : Court: He maintains that he was not running a business and that only ‘lawful activities behind closed doors’ went on.

The man accused of operating a swingers sex club from a house in Cowan Heights denounced the charges against him Friday as a violation of his constitutional rights.

“This trial has nothing to do with sex,” said Stephen M. Cohen, 43, of Trabuco Canyon outside court. “These were lawful activities behind closed doors.”

On Friday, Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephanie George rested her case against Cohen, who has been charged with two counts of violating zoning laws by operating an adult business in a residential area of Cowan Heights, an affluent, rural community northeast of Tustin.

Cohen’s attorney, William J. Kopeny, has admitted that his client ran what was called the Club but said that it was a nonprofit, private, social organization and not a business. He agreed with Cohen that sex is not the issue in the trial.

But details of sexual activities were mainly what the jurors heard during two days of testimony from prosecution witnesses, including two undercover Orange County sheriff’s deputies who said they posed as a couple and joined the Club.

One of the officers, vice investigator Charles Daly, said that while he was at the residence, he saw a number of sexual activities among different couples, including intercourse, oral sex and lewd dancing.

Daly’s partner, Deputy Karen Bruner, also said that she witnessed sex acts during three visits to the home.

On one occasion, she testified, she was in the living room watching pornographic videos when Cohen entered and played a video that he said he had filmed at the house.

It showed a man and two women having sex, said Bruner, who added that the film’s trio were in the living room watching the video.

Both officers testified that the inside of the house had been converted to support an array of sexual activities: Bedrooms had been partitioned into tiny, carpeted rooms equipped with mattresses and mirrors; a garage was turned into a bar and dance floor, and a Jacuzzi was in the back yard.

Kopeny discounted the officers’ testimony Friday, saying that it wasn’t relevant to the charges against his client. He added that the district attorney was trying to “prejudice” the jury with the issue of sex and had presented nothing to support her contention that Cohen operated a business.

George, however, said Cohen’s actions proved he was a businessman, noting that he advertised the Club in local newspapers and charged couples membership fees and entrance fees to individual parties.

“This was definitely a business,” she told jurors.

Kopeny said that the money charged at the parties, about $40 per couple, was used to offset the costs of running the Club, including rent, utilities, advertising and party snacks.

During a break in the trial Friday, Cohen talked about the Club and again denied that it was a business. If it had been , he said, he would not have been so choosy about members.

“I rejected 30% to 35% who applied,” he said.

The trial continues Monday in Municipal Court in Santa Ana.