SC agency to strip license of business that Richland sheriff says is prostitution den
A state agency says it is helping to shut down a business that Richland County’s sheriff said is a strip club and prostitution house posing as a restaurant.
The South Carolina Department of Revenue began the process to revoke the alcohol license of Tryst, a business on River Drive about half a mile from the Earlewood community.
The department “has been opposed to issuing an alcohol license to Tryst from the beginning,” a statement by spokesperson Bonnie Swingle said, adding a license was initially denied to the business.
An administrative law court granted Tryst a license to sell alcohol, but the credentials came with two conditions: that the business not act as a sexually oriented business and not be open past midnight.
At a Tuesday news conference, Richland Sheriff Leon Lott said Tryst was open past midnight and operated as a strip club and a “house of prostitution” even though the business was registered as a restaurant. He expressed frustration with the revenue department and the slowness of the process to revoke Tryst’s alcohol license.
Swingle said that once the Department of Revenue learned that Tryst had violated the court order, the agency “made revoking Trust’s license a priority.”
The revenue department has worked with Richland County administrators since July to determine a course of action against Tryst, Swingle said. Until Wednesday revenue officials were receiving information from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department investigators that would reinforce the license revocation.
Owners at Tryst will be informed that the revenue department intends to revoke the business’ ability to sell alcohol by the end of the week, Swingle said. The owners will have 90 days to appeal the decision.
“The SCDOR believes ultimate revocation is justified as Tryst is blatantly violating the Court order and the two restrictions on its license,” Swingle’s statement said. “However, the SCDOR cannot simply ‘close the doors’ of Tryst without a court order obtained after affording Tryst due process under the law.”