Nuns lodge new complaints against Stone Park strip club

STONE PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- A group of suburban nuns are ramping up efforts to shut down a gentleman's club that's right next to a convent.

The nuns have amended a lawsuit they have filed against Club Allure claiming there is illegal activity at the facility. The club is located next door to the Sisters of St. Charles convent in west suburban Stone Park.

From over the fence in their back yard, the nuns at St. Charles Borromeo see Allure, a strip club they have been fighting since before it opened.

"I'm fearful for the children and young people here. This is what they're seeing. There isn't any other form of playground for them. Parents are telling me, 'I can no longer let my children play on the street'," said Sister Noemia Silva, St. Charles Borromeo.

The legal battle to try to close the club has yet to get before a judge. But the nuns now say they have new information: allegations of prostitution at the club, liquor license violations, ongoing noise violations and fights outside the club. And in December, they say a bartender at the club, Zaira Lugo, was killed after crashing her car leaving the club intoxicated.

"There was just a lot going on in there. How they present themselves is not what they actually are. Whether it's drugs, et cetera, there's just a lot of things, a lot of unsavory things that go on there, inside of those walls," said Anthony Clark, boyfriend.

They presented evidence of those alleged violations to administrators at the Stone Park village hall Thursday afternoon. They say the club is violating state law by selling liquor within 100 feet of the sister's retirement home. Attorneys say they have witnesses who can testify about prostitution, which they say comes in the form of lap dancing that crosses legal lines.

"Lap dancing is a vague phrase that covers a lot sins. There's more than 'lap dancing' here and we have the eyewitness testimony we've turned over to law enforcement," said Tom Brejca, Thomas More Society.

The manager of Club Allure says he's not able to offer a response at this point. In the past, the owner of the club has said he believes they are within the law, and they have a different interpretation of the law than those at the convent.