Federal Heights police have accused Mayor Dale Sparks of interfering with an undercover investigation into a city strip club where the mayor was a doorman, an investigative report obtained by The Denver Post says.
In interview transcripts, Sparks was accused of turning a “blind eye” to activities at the Bare Essence Gentleman’s Club that included illegal touching, prostitution and offers of drugs.
Several dancers, the disc jockey and the club’s owner, Leo Tsodikov, were arrested during a raid in April.
Police allege that the mayor was part of an ongoing scheme to distract officers who came into the club and that he helped with a system that discreetly notified dancers when police arrived so the women could jump off clients in a private room.
“We know that you know what’s going on in there,” police Lt. Rodger McLaughlin tells Sparks in an interview after the club was raided. “We have audio tapes of people talking about the mayor and (how) he knows what’s going on in there. …”
Sparks told police that was hired in April 2005 and worked at the door three nights a week to “make ends meet.” Sparks was paid $100 nightly, sometimes in cash.
Police say in the report, given to the City Council on Thursday, that Sparks likely was hired to interfere with police and possibly to notify Tsodikov if the club were being investigated.
Sparks did not return requests for an interview Saturday night. But in the interview with police, the mayor repeatedly denies knowing about alleged illegal acts at the club. Police records also say Sparks asked at least one city official if Bare Essence was part of a sting operation.
Sparks admitted in the interview that he notified a club bartender earlier this year when a plainclothes investigator he knew entered the club.
“It didn’t really mean anything,” Sparks says in the interview, adding later that he was unsure why he told a club employee that an officer was inside.
But what Sparks didn’t know at the time was that investigators were wrapping up four months of undercover work and decided to watch the mayor’s reaction when an officer he knew came into the building.
“We were hoping for the best, and unfortunately you didn’t do the right thing, and we’re not too happy about that,” McLaughlin tells Sparks.
Ted May, who led an unsuccessful recall drive against Sparks, said he hopes the mayor will resign. Sparks left the job at the club.
“I think we have a mayor who not only embarrassed us, but he breaks the cover of an officer,” May said. “The mayor shouldn’t have been there in the first place.”
