Alleged adult entertainment shuttered in raid

Dave Brooks

Tucked away in the back of Chet Allan Ringwood’s suburban Huntington

Beach home is an all-black studio decorated with vinyl and leather

sofas, black lighting and a pole that runs from the ceiling to a

small dancing platform with mirrored tiles.

“You should have seen this place a few nights ago,” said the

38-year-old Ringwood. His crossed arms displayed shamrock tattoos

running down his forearms. “It was pimp to the hilt.”

Ringwood is the owner of Clover Enterprises, a small Surf

City-based adult entertainment company that employs roommates

20-year-old Rachel Rudolph and 41-year-old Catherine Ringwood in a

popular bachelor party act.

Until recently, Ringwood said he hadn’t had any problems operating

in Huntington Beach. He usually takes his show on the road, but about

six times a year, he hosts elaborate bachelor parties at his house. A

homeowner on Marken Lane for 15 years, Ringwood said he had no idea

what he was doing was illegal.

That all changed May 21 when about eight to 10 armed officers from

the Huntington Beach Police Department sent a battering ram through

his rear gate and stormed into his home, arresting him, his two

roommates, a body guard and two other strippers working a bachelor

party for about 25 clients.

“They didn’t have to send armed guys with riot gear through my

yard,” he said. “I think that was a bit overkill. I wish someone

would have just come and told me.”

Huntington Beach police say Ringwood had been charging about $50 a

person to get into the party, as well as taking money for shots of

alcohol.

“Once the undercover operatives were inside, they alerted officers

outside that there were performers taking their clothes off on stage

and a bar where people could buy drinks,” Huntington Beach Lt. Craig

Juniger said.

Ringwood was charged with operating an escort establishment,

running a business and selling alcohol without a permit. The girls

were charged with not having a stripper’s permit.

Ringwood contends he was just throwing a party that, when

performed on the road for his clients, is legal.

He added that he tries to go by the book, displaying his film

permit to shoot adult movies in his home.

The scale of the raid, he said, sent him a message that he wasn’t

welcome in Huntington Beach. He said he doesn’t want to relocate

elsewhere.

“Everybody in the adult film industry works in the (San Fernando)

Valley and lives in Orange County,” he said. “I want to live and work

here.”

There are currently no strip clubs in Huntington Beach. For years,

the city of Huntington Beach battled with Harry Tatarian, who opened

the first and only nude juice bar on Beach Blvd. in July 2000. Just a

few months after opening, the city passed an ordinance prohibiting

any contact between dancers and customers, and required dancers to

maintain a six-foot distance when performing.

Tatarian sued in federal court and both sides spent two years

battling over the case. Tatarian dropped the lawsuit in 2002 after

his Flamingo Adult Theater went belly up.

Juniger said the recent raid wasn’t tied to Huntington Beach’s

position on strip clubs but to concerns that Ringwood was operating

an illegal business in a residential neighborhood without the proper

permits.

“This is really an isolated incident,” he said. “We haven’t had

anything like this before in Huntington Beach.”