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Police Focusing On Overexposed Subjects

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By VALERIE KALFRIN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 29, 2008

TAMPA - Police are showing up more around adult businesses in Drew Park after complaints from residents and other business owners.

Tampa police on Tuesday arrested three men - one 55, one 61 and one 68 - inside The Playhouse adult theater at 4421 N. Hubert Ave. after undercover officers saw the men exposing themselves and masturbating, records show.

The men are charged with lewd and lascivious behavior and exposure of sexual organs, both misdemeanors. Each posted $750 bail and was released from a Hillsborough County jail.

The arrests are part of a crackdown requested by residents and other business owners in Drew Park, said police spokeswoman Andrea Davis.

Robert Linger, 49, the vice president and general manager of WTVT, Channel 13, was arrested this month under the same charges after police said they found him and five other men masturbating at a business, Fantasy Land, 4715 N. Lois Ave.

His employer said he has taken a leave of absence.

"It is illegal to expose yourself in a public place," Davis said. "There are other people in a club who don't want to see that."

The Tampa City Council in early May approved the use of $132,714 for the crackdown, paid for through tax-increment financing from the Drew Park Community Redevelopment Area, Davis said.

Tax-increment financing is the funding mechanism in Tampa's nine Community Redevelopment Areas that funnels tax dollars from each area back into that area for improvements.

The crackdown will last approximately six months, according to the Drew Park Strategic Action Plan.

Jeanette LaRussa Fenton, the redevelopment area's manager, said the area's advisory committee must decide whether to allocate additional money for the enforcement next fiscal year.

The area has an existing $1.2 million budget.

"This is a very high priority for them," Fenton said. "People are not crazy about having that in their neighborhood. ... It impedes other businesses that might be willing to relocate" to that area.
Drew Park encompasses about 1.3 square miles west of North Dale Mabry Highway, roughly bordered by Hillsborough Avenue, West Tampa Bay Boulevard and North Hesperides Street.

Ten adult businesses in this area, such as Fantasy Land and The Playhouse, have special permits for adult use. Nine other adult businesses in the area do not have such permits because they say they are retail operations, such as lingerie shops, Fenton said.

Whether they have an adult-use permit or not, these businesses should not condone or encourage illegal activity, police said.

The police department has received several complaints through the city's online message center about adult businesses, raising concerns ranging from public health to condoms littered in parking lots, Davis said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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