Rizzolo files suit against Metro

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2003 | 11:21 a.m.

Topless-club owner Rick Rizzolo has filed a federal lawsuit against Metro Police, alleging that officers conducted an illegal search of his Crazy Horse Too club on Oct. 4, 2001.

The suit, filed Tuesday, alleges that Metro Sgt. Al Cervantes, relying on information provided by Metro Detective Robert Rogers and Officer Erick Wilds, used false statements and omitted facts from a search warrant request that was signed allowing for the search.

The suit seeks punitive damages from Metro, Cervantes, Rogers, Wilds and five unnamed officers in excess of $10,000 for the invasion of Rizzolo's privacy as well as his emotional distress, humiliation, legal fees and loss of business profits and reputation.

The search warrant in question was requested after an alleged incident at the club involving a Kansas City man who has filed a civil suit against the club. Kirk Henry alleges that his neck was injured by a bouncer after a disagreement over a bill in the club on Sept 20, 2001.

The club maintains that Henry was found on the ground outside the club, and that club employees assisted in getting him medical attention. Henry's civil suit is expected to go to trial in February.

Rizzolo's lawsuit alleges officers omitted from the search warrant affidavit that Henry was drunk at the time of the incident and may not have been able to accurately perceive what was happening. Also, Henry's version of events to Rogers is contradicted by a recorded phone call to the fire department in which Henry said he was hit by an unknown person, not a club employee, according to the suit.

Rizzolo's suit further alleges that officers omitted that a cabdriver at the scene reported that he had seen Henry fall to the ground, and that it was not a club employee who took Henry's wallet as alleged by Henry, but instead an officer who had removed the wallet to identify Henry.

Officer Jose Montoya, a Metro spokesman, had no comment on the suit, saying that it is Metro policy not to comment on ongoing litigation.

Last fall Metro settled a civil rights lawsuit by paying two men $900,000 after the men claimed they were wrongfully charged with a felony and falsely arrested by several Metro officers including Rogers, after an altercation in a bar in 1997.

Juan Berry, a corrections officer from Minnesota, and his cousin, James Suggs, who works for a pharmaceutical company in Kentucky, accused officers of fabricating charges in retaliation for a fight May 23, 1997, with several off-duty police officers at the now-defunct Drink nightclub.

Crazy Horse Too was also raided on Feb. 20, by federal agents as part of an investigation into possible ties between the club and organized crime. Neither that raid nor the 2001 Metro Police search have resulted in any charges being filed.

Items seized from the club, located at 2476 Industrial Road, during the February raid have become an issue, with Crazy Horse officials alleging that the FBI took privileged legal documents.

The club's attorney, Anthony Sgro, has asked U.S. Magistrate Peggy Leen to return original copies of privileged documents, and to hold two FBI agents in contempt for allegedly not revealing at a March 6 hearing that they reviewed documents protected by the attorney-client relationship.

Leen has yet to file an order in the case, however.