DEA Agents Convicted for Lying about Strip Club Ownership

Two former Drug Enforcement Administration employees were convicted of lying to the government about owning a New Jersey strip club during their top secret clearance application process.

After a two-week trial, a Federal District Court jury in Manhattan found the defendants, Glen Glover and David Polos, guilty on all counts, including omitting any mention of the club when filling out a federal form in 2011 that asked for a listing of all employment, including “full-time and part-time work, paid or unpaid.” They were also found guilty of conspiring to hide their connection with the club, the Twins Plus Go-Go Lounge in South Hackensack, New Jersey.

Polos, a former Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge with the Drug Enforcement Administration and Glover, a DEA Information Technology Specialist, were running an exotic club where drug use was rampant and dancers — many of whom were illegal immigrants — engaged in sex acts with their clients, prosecutors said.

Polos also failed to disclose his intimate relationship with a Brazilian foreign national who worked as a dancer at the club after entering the United States illegally. Polos was thus convicted of an additional count of lying on the form by stating he did not have “close or continuing contact” with any foreign national.

Lawyers for the defendants both said they were surprised by the verdict, stating their intent to have it set aside.

“We respect the jury’s verdict, but we don’t think they committed any crime,” said Marc Mukasey, a lawyer for Mr. Polos.

Cathy Fleming, a lawyer for Mr. Glover, said she would renew a motion for a judgment of acquittal that she had made before the trial. If that did not succeed, she said, she would appeal.

Prosecutors said the defendants wanted to preserve the top-secret security clearance they had as DEA employees, which would most certainly have been revoked had their ownership of the club come up. Defense lawyers argued the two did not lie because they considered themselves mere investors in Twins Plus, not employees of the club, reports The New York Times.

Glover and Polos both worked regular managerial shifts at the Club in the months prior to and following their submission of the national security forms. They also hired, fired, and paid bartenders, dancers, and bouncers; supervised the Club’s renovation, advertised the Club in local periodicals; manned a back office available only to employees; remotely monitored video camera feed from the Club when not present; and generally tended to various Club-related matters. GLOVER and POLOS at times attended to Club matters during DEA work hours, according to a statement released by the Department of Justice.

Glover and Polos were arrested in May 2015. Glover faces up to 10 years in prison and has been placed on an indefinite suspension, while Polos retired shortly before he was arrested and faces up to 15 years in prison. A sentencing date has yet to be set.