NEWS > 23 September 2006

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The Hearld Tribune.com
23 September 2006

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Probe at Cleopatra's targets o

The combination of drugs, booze, strippers and off-duty cops led to a yearlong police corruption investigation that could ensnare officers and bad guys from Florida to New York.

Five sheriff's deputies in Manatee and Sarasota counties have resigned -- two have been arrested -- amid a widespread police corruption investigation tied to the Palmetto strip club Cleopatra's.

Several more officers could be fired for their off-duty association with the bar, and records indicate nearly 30 civilians could also face misdemeanor charges.

State prosecutors this week released thousands of pages of investigative reports in the multicounty racketeering probe that began last year.

The records include accusations that: Manatee deputy Charles E. Elsenheimer cozied up to a drug dealer; two deputies bought stolen booze; and reveal links to a New York convict known as "Italian John" who tried to arrange an international money laundering scheme.

The records name nearly a dozen Manatee County deputies and two from Sarasota who had some connection to Cleopatra's. Manatee Sheriff Charlie Wells said the investigation is ongoing, and that he could not comment further.

Local drug dealers were bold enough to call Cleopatra's their safe zone, a place where their coke sales would not be reported.

Cocaine dealer Dean Roller, who sold powder cocaine to strippers, boasted he had Elsenheimer in his pocket after slipping him $500 in an envelope for a favor.

"He would just make sure everything was OK and make sure I didn't mess with people I shouldn't mess with, you know?" Roller told Manatee sheriff's investigators.

"Like if there was somebody that might have been a cop he would have told you something?" the investigator asked.

"Yeah, he always, he always told me watch out for this or watch out for that," Roller said.

Elsenheimer reportedly had a hand in the arrest and interrogation of a man who had a beef with Roller.

After the arrest, Roller said he met Elsenheimer in a bathroom at Cleopatra's, handed him $500 in an envelope and bolted so he wouldn't be arrested for bribery.

Whatever information Roller may have received didn't help him dodge a racketeering charge filed against him in September of last year.

A sheriff's investigator pressed Elsenheimer's cousin, Gary Harrison, about Roller's drug dealing at Cleopatra's.

"When he's selling his cocaine, the place usually has deputies in it. Don't you think that's kind of strange he'd be doing that?"

"Yeah," said Harrison, a Manatee deputy at the time.

The Manatee County Sheriff's Office policy forbids deputies from working off-duty at bars, and administrators put out a memo in 2004 that told deputies to stay away from strip clubs.

But the records allege that several deputies spent a significant amount of time at Cleopatra's, and that several laws may have been broken.

Authorities tracked Elsenheimer's moves for months before arresting him and his cousin, Harrison, in July on felony charges of dealing in stolen property.

Both were Manatee deputies and have since resigned.

Elsenheimer, 34, is charged with 11 counts. Harrison, 23, faces two counts. Both have hired private attorneys, entered not-guilty pleas and are fighting the charges.

Two deputies in Sarasota County, Alfred Ainscoe and Edward Falcone, who authorities say are indirectly linked to the ongoing probe, resigned in July. Neither has been charged with a crime.

Ainscoe's name is connected to an FBI-led insurance fraud investigation, according to the law enforcement papers.

Falcone, the records show, is the cousin of one of the targets of the Cleopatra's criminal investigation, a convicted felon named John Peter Vitolano, 31, of Sarasota. Vitolano is also known by the street name of "Italian John."

Vitolano, whose name also appears as John Serendensky in some court papers, was part of an alleged money laundering conspiracy.

A former bouncer at Cleopatra's, Vitolano served about three years in prison on conspiracy charges tied to bank fraud and money laundering in New York City.

The Manatee County sheriff's probe began in August 2005 with a complaint from a local man who was investigating the drug-related death of his sister, a dancer at the club.

The man, upset that police weren't doing enough to investigate his sister's death, said he saw a Manatee sheriff's deputy at Cleopatra's, and he contacted the sheriff's office.

Authorities began a year-long investigation at the club using undercover FBI and Hillsborough detectives, video surveillance and recorded phone calls, among other tools.

Elsenheimer, the authorities say, never made any attempt to conceal his identity as a Manatee County deputy sheriff when he was at the club.

He was a fixture at Cleopatra's, allegedly arranging alcohol sales, counting cash and drinking for free, according to authorities.

An undercover officer posing as a thief said he could get cheap booze, stolen from portside docks, and Elsenheimer reportedly bought into the sham.

Detectives say Elsenheimer bought cases of Bacardi rum, Crown Royal whiskey, Grey Goose vodka, Captain Morgan Rum and Jagermeister for $150; the wholesale value of the alcohol was $862.

Elsenheimer reportedly was given a free case of Bacardi for his "protection services," sheriff's reports show.

Authorities say Elsenheimer also assisted an undercover detective -- Elsenheimer did not know the man was a cop -- check out a person who was selling cheap alcohol to make sure he was a credible thief.

Elsenheimer was given a license tag number and ran it on his sheriff's office computer. He told the undercover officer that it was OK to deal with the man selling the booze.

Another Manatee deputy, Daniel E. Martin, 35, told sheriff's investigators that one of the Cleopatra's door girls had his cell phone and would call him personally to quell customer disturbances.

"Why would she call you directly?" an investigator asked Martin.

"I don't know. It's quicker I guess. I have no idea," Martin said.

Former Manatee deputy Joshua R. Fleischer, 25, who resigned this month, told a detective that whenever he was dispatched to Cleopatra's for a disturbance he listed the address as the "3900" block of U.S. 41 -- deliberately misidentifying the actual address in the 3800 block.

Fleischer, according to the detective, did not want his reports associated with the club.

Authorities said the purchase of stolen booze meant the bar owner, St. Petersburg resident Mark A. Shepard, made a larger profit re-selling it to patrons.

Shepard and the club's manager, Patricia O'Hara, are named as suspects in the racketeering investigation, but neither has been charged.

"Just so you know, nobody's in trouble. We're just trying to get our facts together," Shepard reportedly told O'Hara in a phone call recorded by police.

"I haven't been charged with anything, the club hasn't been charged with anything. They never even closed us down for a day," Shepard said, according to a transcript of the call.

Sheriff's Office interviews with bouncers, dancers and bartenders portray Elsenheimer as a handyman at the bar, fixing broken things.

He got free drinks as a friend of the owner, not an employee, according to several people interviewed.

Harrison's attorney, Greg Hagopian, said the charges against his client are overblown.

If anything, Harrison bought into a buy-one, get-one free deal when he allegedly bought two bottles of alcohol at a discount rate, the lawyer said.

Shepard said in the recorded call that Elsenheimer and Harrison were not club employees. He called the officers "free help."

He told O'Hara that the liquor wasn't stolen. "It was liquor at a good price," he said.

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Article sourced from

The Hearld Tribune.com23 September 2006

Probe at Cleopatra's targets o

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The Hearld Tribune.com
23 September 2006