Patron Sues After Cop Stop

Daniel Meyvis thinks he was illegally harassed just because he patronized an adult business but, so far, he has not been able to convince a court. He hasn't given up, though. A federal trial judge dismissed his complaint in June but he has filed documents to take the case to federal appeals court. \n For Meyvis, the problem began after he left Live Shows, a strip club in central Florida, in December 1996. He had not gone far in his car when two officers of the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, a local task force that includes the cities of Orlando and Apopka, pulled him over. \n They told Meyvis he was being investigated and asked what he did in the club. Meyvis answered the questions and acknowledged he had masturbated in the club. Then he was released without ever being charged with a crime and with no civil complaint. \n That was a little too much for Meyvis. He sued the MBI, alleging the agency has been illegally picking on people who go to adult businesses. His constitutional rights were violated simply because he patronized a business targeted by the MBI, his brief said. \n For their part, the MBI said they stopped Meyvis because he fit a certain profile. The officers said the purpose of pulling him over was strictly to gather evidence on Live Shows. In court, one of the two officers admitted they had no evidence that Meyvis had done anything wrong in the club. \n A federal judge dismissed the case, anyway. He said the ongoing investigation of Live Shows gave the officers reasonable suspicion that Meyvis may have committed the crime of unlawful masturbation. \n Meyvis' attorney, who also represents Live Shows, said this was an instance of the government acting indirectly to shut down a business it could not otherwise close. An attorney for Orlando, however, denied it was an attempt to coerce the business into closing. \n The case will now head to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.