LAS VEGAS -- Police said it was predictable that someone would be seriously hurt at an alleged clip joint. Earlier this week, the suspect in the stabbing of a British tourist turned himself in after more than two months on the run.
But as the I-Team found in its investigation, years of arrests have done little to shutter the scams.
In clip joints, customers are tricked into paying for services they never receive, often of a sexual nature. The customers are usually shown the door when they run out of money.
Though police investigations have prompted the closure of several such establishments, often the same players simply reopen elsewhere. According to police, that's how it happened with Red Devil Fitness and Spa where a British tourist nearly lost his life.
For more than two months, Samuel Schaffer escaped arrest on attempted murder charges. But despite his dad's best efforts, he couldn't elude our cameras. All 6-foot-2 and 340 pounds of Schaffer stands accused of stabbing a British tourist at a suspected clip joint.
According to police, Schaffer worked as a bouncer at Red Devil Fitness and Spa when a dispute over sexual services -- or the lack of them -- turned violent.
"Red Devil had been on our radar since it got licensed," Metro Sgt. Leonard Lorusso said.
He's in Metro's Special Investigations Section and has supervised more than a dozen investigations of suspected clip joints in recent years, including raids on Club Exclusive Two, Entyce, and Sensations in 2010. He also took part in an undercover sting of Oasis R&R earlier this year. Like Red Devil, each has resulted in multiple arrests, but no criminal indictments.
"It's just a matter of time before somebody gets killed. If we know this, if we can predict this, we can prevent it, so we just got to get moving. We've got to get on the same sheet of music," Lorusso said.
While the prosecutions remain under review, the Red Devil investigation suggests some of the same players simply re-open under a new name, with a different drugless practioner business license. According to police, Lon Hall, one of three suspected owners of Red Devil, also had links to Sensations and to Entyce.
In 2010, John Sorget, the owner of Entyce, said this about his business.
"Just like anything else in Vegas, it is nothing more than the atmosphere. You can have anything you want," Sorget said. "People will pay for an atmosphere. Just like your $80 dollar vodka costs you $650 bucks."
"They think that it's OK that if individuals come there thinking they're going to get sex and they somehow infer it with a wink and a nod," Lorusso said. "If the guy or the tourist is stupid enough and wants to pay for it, well it's his tough luck."
Police consider it racketeering and have accused the employees and owners of each suspected clip joint with the charge typically reserved for organized crime. All of them, except Schaffer. who unlike his co-workers, probably won't be going anywhere, anytime soon.
"We're trying to be the safest community in America and we can't even get close to it with these places operating," Lorusso said.
According to police, cab drivers play a big part in sustaining these businesses. They routinely get kickbacks of $200 dollars per customer. Lorusso said his team recently conducted an undercover sting on several cabbies and four out of six took detectives to suspected clip joints. He said there will be more stings in the near future.
The I-Team was unable to reach the suspected owners of Red Devil for comment. Police and prosecutors are working closely together to bring these cases before a court.
