Reineck talks to FBI in Las Vegas

Friday, July 25, 1997 | 10:03 a.m.

and Cathy Scott

A Las Vegas gay health club owned by mystery man Torsten Reineck allowed members to engage in sexual intercourse in violation of county ordinances, a former employee charges.

The employee, a 19-year-old ex-receptionist who asked not to be identified, told the SUN the Apollo Spa & Health Club operated like a bathhouse and had an "orgy room" where members would have sex with each other on couches and masturbate to triple X-rated videotapes.

Video cameras were installed in some of the private rooms where the sex was taking place, the receptionist said.

Reineck, the 49-year-old German businessman who owns the Miami Beach, Fla., houseboat where spree killer Andrew Cunanan killed himself, could not be reached for comment. He was interviewed by the FBI in Las Vegas Thursday in connection with Cunanan's suicide and reportedly flew to Miami Beach.

Club Manager Jack Barker denied sex was taking place at the health club, saying, "We run a legitimate health spa."

Clark County Business License Director Ardel Jorgensen said investigators who visited the club Thursday found it to be "clean as a whistle."

Jorgensen, however, said her office was continuing to monitor the spa, which does not have a special bathhouse license.

She said she also was launching an investigation of all health clubs in Las Vegas to see whether they are complying with bathhouse regulations.

The former receptionist had filed a battery charge with Metro Police against Reineck on Nov. 2 after the businessman, who uses several alias, allegedly roughed him up.

Reineck was using the alias Matthew Frank Ruehl at the time, according to the police report.

The incident happened after Reineck -- who apparently has two Social Security numbers, one under his real name and the other under Ruehl's -- had fired the graveyard receptionist.

The police report says the club owner twisted the receptionist's arm behind his back, threw him against the wall and then forcibly removed him from the spa.

There was no record of any charges being filed against Reineck, but the former receptionist said he pressed charges and Reineck was fined.

The FBI, meanwhile, said Thursday that Reineck voluntarily appeared at its Las Vegas office for questioning in Cunanan's death.

In a news release, the FBI said it was informed that Reineck is wanted on German arrest warrants, but it added that German authorities were not asking the FBI to take Reineck into custody.

The FBI refused to give out additional information.

Reineck's Las Vegas lawyer, Chris Phipps, told KVBC Channel 3 his client did not know Cunanan and that the reputed killer of fashion designer Gianni Versace had broken into his Miami Beach houseboat.

Phipps did not return phone calls.

The fired receptionist, meanwhile, painted an unflattering picture of Reineck, whom he said he knew as "Doc Ruehl."

"He's very rude and violent," the ex-employee said. "He didn't care about anybody but himself."

Rob Schlegel, publisher of The Bugle, a weekly gay Las Vegas newspaper, said he had several unpleasant dealings with Reineck.

"He's an obnoxious, unpleasant, disgusting man," Schlegel said. "I don't trust him."

Schlegel said Reineck bad-mouthed him in the gay community after he refused to allow him to advertise in his newspaper.

Former Apollo Spa employees, Schlegel said, told him of the orgy room and the sex that was taking place at the club in the Commercial Center off East Sahara Avenue.

Reineck, who passed out a business card identifying himself as Dr. Torsten M. Ruehl, apparently had run-ins with other businesspeople in Las Vegas.

He had an advertisement for the Apollo Spa on the Cyber City Cafe website, but a check of the site found that the owners are chastising him for not paying for the ad.

Longtime process server Smokey Stover said he noticed that Reineck had diplomatic license plates on his custom Excalibur car several months ago when he tried to serve him with court papers.

Stover described Reineck as a cagey guy who eluded him at the time.

According to the Miami Herald, Reineck has claimed to be a diplomat of an unrecognized nation called the Principality of Sealand. The paper said the "nation" issues its own passports and Reineck sometimes flashes his own Sealand passport.

Reineck is being sued in Miami by a European couple who rented his houseboat. The couple claim Reineck kicked them out of the boat, moved back in himself and kept their belongings, which included a $9,000 Rolex watch.

But Mike Waswani, owner of India Sweets and Spices, a grocery store next door to the Apollo Spa, said he found Reineck to be pleasant.

"He came in to buy sodas and food usually every day," Waswani said. "He's a simple businessman. He's a good man in his talking and behavior."

Though Reineck owns luxury cars and valuable property in Miami Beach and wore expensive Versace clothes, he lived in a modest apartment in Las Vegas.

Half the neighbors at Reineck's Desert Club apartment complex on Koval Lane had no idea Thursday that a tie to the Cunanan case lived in their midst. Few could describe much about him beyond his gray ponytail, receding hairline and impeccable taste in clothes.

"I figured he was a bachelor," said downstairs neighbor Kamal Kazemi. "He's a very nice neighbor, very friendly. I thought he was probably into gambling or in real estate because he was very good looking and always dressed nice."

Kazemi never recalled anyone who looked like Cunanan ever visiting, or anyone else for that matter. "He would just come and go, by himself. Never any problems."

Few patrons were seen entering the doors of Reineck's gay health club Thursday, a place its clientele say has built a reputation as a gay bathhouse where about $20 buys entry to its pool, workout room, saunas and private rooms for rent that include a television and a bench.

"It's really relaxed and not very busy," said Mathew Colizzi, who's been to Apollo twice. "You go there to cruise other guys. It's a pickup place, basically, but it does have workout equipment."

Colizzi never saw Cunanan or Reineck at the club, but said the suspected spree murderer has "given gay people a bad name."

"What's really odd about this is that Versace getting shot and killed has received more publicity than the death of a world leader."

Media camped outside Reineck's apartment throughout the day, following a rumor it was the man's departure point before catching an evening flight to Miami to check on his houseboat. By 9 p.m., he remained a no-show.

"I think he is just waiting for everything to quiet down before he comes home," pondered Joey Battig, who said he helped move Reineck into his third-floor unit where a one-bedroom apartment rents for about $685 a month.

"Doc, he'd spread his feathers, but when it came down to it, he was a good guy. He was always the first to buy a round of drinks for everyone in the bar, he's a good-time Charlie."

Reineck knew Versace and was quite distraught over his murder, Battig said, doubting his friend knew Cunanan.

"The real story is that Versace may have afflicted AIDS, and Cunanan could've been going after people because of it. Doc may very well have been in hiding because of the bathhouses, here and in Miami. Maybe Cunanan broke into Doc's houseboat to kill him. It makes sense."

Battig, a former producer in the entertainment industry who has since gone into real estate, said he and Reineck had talked of producing a show together on the Rat Pack, using Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Marilyn Monroe and Liberace look-a-likes.

Theories abound over possible ties between Reineck and Cunanan, but Battig denied that his friend would ever willingly harbor a fugitive even though Reineck is a fugitive himself on fraud charges of as much as $110,000 in Germany.

"If Doc hadn't had those two gay bathhouses, he wouldn't be in this situation," Battig said. "He's a smart man. I think even if Doc's wife had done what Cunanan did, he wouldn't even help her hide from authorities."

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