ANAHEIM — A Municipal Court jury of five women and seven men convicted six employees of an Anaheim nude dance club Friday on prostitution charges stemming from lap dances.
The city banned the practice several years ago as part of its attempts to rid Anaheim of adult businesses and cited the employees of the Sahara Theater for violating city codes.
The defendants contended the city had no right to regulate what goes on inside a nude dance club.
Friday's jury verdict closes the latest chapter in the ongoing dispute between the city and the Sahara.
The club was shut down in 1992 by code enforcement officers for having topless waitresses and no entertainment permit. It reopened a few months later when Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard O. Frazee Sr. ruled Anaheim's adult entertainment ordinance was unconstitutional.
The defendants will be sentenced on the misdemeanor charges next week in Municipal Court in Fullerton.
