New security rules, trial date set in Tarrant County lawsuit against Temptations Cabaret
A Tarrant County strip club that faces a lawsuit seeking to permanently shut down the business as a public nuisance will now be required to meet specific security requirements if it reopens, according to court documents.
An injunction, approved Tuesday by Tarrant County 348th District Court Judge Megan Fahey, sets a trial date for Nov. 6 and requires that if Temptations Cabaret — or anyone leasing or subleasing its property in Tarrant County — wants to resume operating and allow alcohol on the premises, it must:
- Cease operations by 2 a.m. daily;
- Have at least seven licensed security guards stationed at the property, two inside and five outside;
- Post a list of prohibited items in a conspicuous place which should include knives, firearms and bags that aren’t clear and allow security to easily see their contents;
- Require anybody entering the building to pass through a metal detector and submit to a pat-down or wand search if the detector alerts.
While this comes 13 days after the strip club’s attorneys filed a notice to the court that Temptations Cabaret had chosen to permanently close its business, the injunction includes a $10,000 bond for Temptations and a $5,000 bond for the company that owns the club, Queen Shiva LLC.
The injunction would apply if the business reopened at any point during the lawsuit, and the bond would be forfeited if the club was found to be violating any of the terms of the injunction.
Whether Temptations has actually closed or not is unclear. The business’ Google listing shows hours of operations with a note that those hours were confirmed by the business two weeks ago.
Attorneys for Temptations could not be reached by the Star-Telegram for comment Monday afternoon.
Temptations was under intense scrutiny from Tarrant County months before the district attorney’s office filed the lawsuit seeking to shut the business down as a public nuisance, with county officials calling it a “hotbed of crime.”
The strip club, located at 12291 Camp Bowie West between Fort Worth and Aledo, allowed anybody 18 or older to enter. While it did not serve alcohol, it did allow patrons to bring their own.
The efforts to shut the business down came after a shooting on the property in May that left three people wounded and the gunman dead.
Law enforcement said there were 134 calls for service to Temptations in 2022. Four people have been shot and killed there since 2018, and a man who shot and killed two people at the club in March 2018 was recently sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Temptations Cabaret hasn’t been allowed to operate as a sexually oriented business since June, when the Tarrant County sexually oriented business license and review board voted unanimously to revoke its license. It was the first time since 2009 the board had been convened.
The decision prompted a federal lawsuit by Temptations Cabaret claiming its First Amendment rights were being violated, but that lawsuit has since been dismissed by the club.
If the lawsuit filed by Tarrant County succeeds, it would require Temptations to shut down for at least one year after the date of the case’s judgment and would prohibit it from allowing the property to be a public nuisance, according to the lawsuit.
In its reply to the lawsuit filed in court, Temptations Cabaret said it has made “reasonable attempts” to prevent activity on its property that could be considered a public nuisance.