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Strip Club Owner Gets Jail Time

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

The owner of the Pelican Theater was found guilty Tuesday of violating a court-ordered injunction ordering him to comply with La Habra’s ordinance regulating adult businesses.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Warren Siegal sentenced Bill Badi Gammoh, owner of the nude juice bar, to 24 days in the county jail and ordered him to pay a $6,000 fine and more than $10,000 of the city’s legal fees.

The ordinance bans nude dancers from touching or performing within six feet of customers. A police report said Gammoh had allowed dancers at the Pelican to make physical contact with patrons.

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Gammoh and business partner Bassam Diab Moussa have been at odds with the city since 1995 over operation of the club on Imperial Highway just west of Harbor Boulevard.

City officials initially rejected Gammoh’s application for a permit to open the club. Gammoh sued the city, and the case eventually went to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ordered the city to grant the Pelican a conditional use permit and questioned the constitutionality of the ordinance under which the permit had been denied.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that adult businesses are protected by the 1st Amendment but that local governments may strictly limit their operation.

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