SANTA ANA : Swingers’ Club Case Goes to Jury

A Cowan Heights swingers’ club was not a business, but rather a private organization like the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or Elks Lodge, a lawyer for the club’s operator said in closing arguments Monday.

“It was not a business, but a club to support a lifestyle,” defense attorney William J. Kopeny said.

Prosecutors disagreed, noting that the club’s owner, Stephen M. Cohen, took out advertisements and collected fees from “patrons.” The club, prosecutors say, was operated for a profit.

Cohen, 43, of Trabuco Canyon is on trial for violating zoning laws by operating an adult business in a residential neighborhood. Although he does not deny running “The Club,” he maintains that it was a nonprofit social club and not a business.

Kopeny said the criteria used to define other private clubs apply to his client’s operation. But unlike the 4-H Club or the Moose Lodge, “the prosecutor and the sheriff’s office didn’t like the activities that were going on” in Cohen’s club, Kopeny said.

“They have a lot of moral outrage but very little evidence” that it was a business, he said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephanie George contended that Cohen ran the swingers’ club as a business by advertising for “patrons,” sending out newsletters, charging couples $40 per party and accepting various forms of payment.

“This is certainly a calling for Mr. Cohen,” George said in her closing argument. “There was definitely a profit to be had.”

The case was concluded Monday. Jurors will continue to deliberate on the matter today.