Operator of Swingers’ Club Won’t Be Tried Second Time

A Trabuco Canyon man who ran a swingers’ sex club from a residence in an upscale Cowan Heights neighborhood will not be retried on charges that he violated county zoning laws, the prosecutor handling the case said Wednesday.

Stephen M. Cohen, 43, whose trial ended July 2 with the jury split 8 to 4 in favor of acquittal, is free to continue operating his mate-swapping club as a result of the charges being dropped.

“It was a decision made by our office,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephanie George said. “We felt there just wasn’t any additional evidence we could present to a jury.”

Cohen was accused of violating zoning laws by operating an adult business in residential Cowan Heights, a rural, upper-income community northeast of Tustin.

“I think it was proper,” Cohen said of the decision to drop charges. “She put on a lot of interesting evidence, but none of it had to do with the law.”

Cohen said that he will begin advertising for new members soon and will be operating from a different house in Cowan Heights.

During the two-day trial, William J. Kopeny, Cohen’s attorney, argued that Cohen ran a social, nonprofit, private organization for people with an “alternative lifestyle,” and not a business.

George, however, tried to convince the jury that the Club, as it was called, was a business because Cohen advertised, sent out newsletters and charged couples $50 to join and $40 per party.

To support her contention that the Club was an adult business, she introduced testimony from two undercover officers who posed in 1989 as a swinging couple and investigated the activities at the rented house on Brier Lane.

Sheriff’s Department vice investigator Charles Daly testified that he saw a number of sexual acts take place at the house, ranging from sexual intercourse to topless dancing.

He also said the residence had been renovated to support various sexual activities: Bedrooms were partitioned into small, carpeted “cubbyholes” where couples would pair off and engage in sex; the garage had been converted into a bar area complete with a dance floor; and one room was equipped with a wall-to-wall mattress for people who were “into the group thing.”

Daly, who attended three parties during his investigation, said Cohen had told him that the Club had more than 3,000 members.