Sex For Fun News: 2007


	Sex For Fun News 2007

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

19th December

After Eight...

Edinburgh's only swingers club

From the Scotsman see full article

Last week we must have had 18 couples in, explains Alex, as he stirs his instant coffee. Tonight there's only about eight so far. Of course, Fridays are not as busy usually.
Alex and his wife are standing next to the small kitchen which acts as a makeshift bar for the After Eight Club.

This is “the meeting area” at Edinburgh's only swingers club. Around a dozen men and eight women are sitting around the large tenement-style lounge – all watching a pornographic film.

Moments earlier, shortly before midnight, we had knocked on the door of the After Eight Club, which operates from the former Highland Club sauna in Spittal Street.

At the reception booth, Jim, the club owner, accepts the £10 individual membership fees and £20 entrance charge for couples. Single men pay £25 for membership and £35 entry. Single women are allowed in free.

The official host for the evening, Dave offers the initial welcome: You'll find it's a very relaxed atmosphere in here. No-one is going to pressure you to do anything. If they do, tell me.”

These are the private rooms, says Dave on a guided tour. They have locks and if you want to go in there by yourselves, that's fine. And if you speak to another couple and decide to join them, that's fine too.

In the bowels of the club is “the open room” which is dominated by a giant bed. A couple in their late-20s are lying on the bed – fully-clothed – and talking.

The After Eight Club has been running for about a year, with regulars joined each Friday and Saturday by a few new faces.

13th December

Swinging Back...

Swingers club fights council ordinance

Based on an article from Dallas News see full article

A Duncanville swinger sued the city, contending that a new ordinance banning sex clubs violates his privacy and due process rights.

Jim Trulock and his partner, Julie M. Norris, call themselves advocates for the swinging lifestyle. On weekends, they turn their home near Cedar Ridge Drive and Interstate 20 into the Cherry Pit, where guests can mingle, dance and have sex.

Last month, the Duncanville City Council unanimously adopted an ordinance deeming sex clubs in private homes a public nuisance. City officials say they were acting in response to complaints about the Cherry Pit.

The Cherry Pit advertises on the Internet. The weekend parties reportedly draw up to 100 guests.

Neighbors whinge about parking problems and potential harm to their property values.

Duncanville officials have twice cited Trulock for violating the new ordinance, as well as the city's sexually oriented business and zoning ordinances.

The new ordinance classifies sex clubs as a public nuisance. Officials also contend that the Cherry Pit is an unlicensed business operating in a residential area.

The Cherry Pit's attorney, Ed Klein, said the city is trying to regulate private acts in a private home. The ordinance is unconstitutionally vague and overly broad, according to the lawsuit, filed in Dallas County Court-at-Law No. 2: The ordinance as written criminalizes the behavior of a substantial portion of the population of Duncanville who seek to engage in sexual activity as well as each and every person who may be present on the premises at the time in question.

The suit alleges that a man interested in sex with his wife could be prosecuted. And if the encounter occurred in a hotel, every guest could face criminal action, the suit says.

Klein asked for a temporary restraining order to prevent the city from enforcing the ordinance while the lawsuit proceeds. Judge King Fifer denied the request.

4th December		Safe Sex Passport ...

	Her Majesty requests and requires that the bearer is allowed to enter freely without let or hindrance
	From News.com.au see full article
	The world's first "safe sex passport," aimed especially for users of dating and social networking websites, is due to be launched this week in the United States. Some years ago I met an individual who had intercourse with someone they met online, who didn't disclose that they had an STD, or sexually transmitted disease, Gonzalo Paternoster of Florida-based SSP BioAnalytics said: The idea popped into my head that people know but don't tell the truth, and we needed an independent way to verify someone's health status, he said. The Safe Sex Passport will be available - at a cost - to anyone over the age of 18 who goes online and orders the credit-card-size article. As soon as you order your card, you are referred to an affiliated laboratory where you can get tested for five major STDs, Paternoster said. Card holders are tested for HIV, genital herpes, chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. When you go to the test facility, you will have to show your official ID to make sure you are the person who owns the safe sex passport. The test results are tied to the card. So let's say now you meet someone: they can call a phone number and get the test results and test date for you, plus identification information so that they know for sure that you are really the person who was tested, he said. Subscribers will also be provided with virtual health certificates, which can be posted on their online dating or MySpace profile page. Nearly 15,000 people and several dating websites have already expressed an interest in the safe sex passports and online health certificates, Paternoster said. 60% of inquiries have come from Europe, where the passport and health certificates are expected to be brought to market early next year, Paternoster said.

12th November		Fighting for the Right to Party ...

	Cherry Pit Swingers Club vs mean minded council
	Based on an article from WFAA See also www.cherrypit.org
	A Texas swingers club operated out of a Duncanville home has stirred up controversy. The city of Duncanville has placed no parking signs in front of the home in an attempt to restrict the club. However, despite resident complaints, the law has not allowed the city to control what goes on inside the private residence. An internet site advertising the club calls the location the Cherry Pit , which is a private swingers club where visitors share hot tubs and rooms full of beds. Authorities say the place is hard to close since the Cherry Pit only asks for donations, which makes it not an illegal business. The City Council then passed an ordinance. It targets the Cherry Pit Club for closure and makes it illegal for any private sex club to promote or advertise itself. Club supporters say it's not a nuisance and compare it to a large dinner party, Dallas-Fort Worth television station KTVT reports. The club's defenders say the government should stay out of people's bedrooms. The owners say they'll take their case to the Supreme Court if necessary. Update: Duncanville is the Pits 19th November 2007 The owners of the Duncanville residence now best known to North Texans as The Cherry Pit are now officially charged with a Class C misdemeanor. Late Saturday night, the city's code compliance officers cited the club, accusing it of illegally using the property as a sexually-oriented business. Update: Cherry Picking Concessions 20th November 2007 The swingers club known as the Cherry Pit offered another olive branch to the City of Duncanville. The city has maintained that by accepting donations, the Cherry Pit is in fact a business and a sex club. Owners of the club removed from its website any and all words encouraging guests to make donations to pay for parties. Attorneys for the Cherry Pit say they are also considering reducing the number of guests who attend the parties.

25th November		Swing On ...

	Cherry Pit Swingers Club reach truce with council
	From CBS 11 TV see full article
	The City of Duncanville has reached a temporary truce with the Cherry Pit swingers club. The club's attorney said the owners of the Cherry Pit have agreed to stop advertising party dates and times on their Web site. They will also provide off-site parking and reduce the number of party guests. As long as the Cherry Pit holds up its end of the agreement, the city has agreed to let the parties continue and will not issue any citations.

8th November		Toga Toga Spanked ...

	Rights abusing councillors ban swingers club without justification
	From This is Cheshire
	The owners of a Cheshire club in Winnington are to appeal after it was refused a sex establishment licence. Toga Toga Ltd in Winnington Lane houses swingers club Toga Toga and festish club Spanked after owner Alex Hughes took it over earlier this year. At a meeting of the licensing sub committee he and co-owner Walter Johnston told members they were unaware when they took over the lease that they needed to apply for the licence. They admitted they had not been aware how close the proposed Winnington Urban Village would be. But they told the committee there was no intention to advertise the club locally but only on the Internet and in specialist publications, and since opening there had been no problems with the police. These councillors who sat on the committee are representatives of the people, yet there have been no objections to the nature of our business at all. But members of a licencing sub committee decided the location and situation of the club in relation to other premises in the area was not appropriate having regard to the character of the locality as one of mixed industrial, commercial and residential use. They stated that they were specifically concerned about the close proximity of the day nursery and permitted residential development. They also said the number of sex establishments considered suitable for the Winnington area was nil and therefore the granting of such an application would exceed this figure. He said: This is a members' club. We are not advertising for members of the public to come in. It is all completely behind closed doors. These councillors who sat on the committee are representatives of the people, yet there have been no objections to the nature of our business at all. We went through the application process and there was not one objection.

3rd November		Nutters and Swingers ...

	Club Elite: Swingers in Tampa
	From Tampa Bay's 10 See also Club Elite
	Club Elite in Port Richey, Florida is advertised as a premier swingers club in Pasco County. But neighbors want it closed just as quickly as it opened. Nutters are complaining that it's a sex club. All their complaints have caught the attention of the sheriff's office. According to the club's website it was founded last month as a private members club for those 21 and up. Kimberly Sabo says I look for about every kind of pervert, prostitutes, and everything that that brings. I've invested a lot of money, thousands of dollars and to have something like this open up down the street a matter of a mile or so down the street there's no way I could make a profit. The Pasco County Sheriff's office says it has received 20 to 25 complaints about the club. Kevin Doll the spokesperson for the department says: We've had some people who have gone to the club I guess thinking it's a regular night club however they found out there has been some sex type activities swinging type activities going on at this club. Doll says Florida law is vague about swinging clubs but deputies are looking into the business. It's not necessarily illegal however we believe that the location where this club is is in violation of zoning laws. We believe it's an adult oriented business thus it should be in our industrial zone in the county and right now it's in a commercial district. Update: A pleasant comfortable place to go 4th November 2007 The Sextons are swingers who have been married for 15 months. They're concerned about the controversy surrounding Club Elite. Some residents are calling it's a sex club that will bring crime to the area. But the Sextons have been to Club Elite and say people just don't understand their lifestyle. John Sexton says: There may be an idea that everyone that's in the lifestyle, everyone who is a swinger is also a child molester or we're only interested in sex and as soon as you get a group of us together that all the clothes come off and it becomes a roman style orgy and that's not the case at all. Cathy says sex is involved only if you're comfortable with it: It could be sex, maybe not even sexual intercourse but it could be any kind of sexual intercourse yes. It's safe. Condoms are provided at the clubs free of charge. The bedrooms are very nice and clean. It's tidy. It's just very safe and clean. There's a group area, there's a sex area, and a dancing area. John says It's just a pleasant comfortable place to go Update: Strip Mall 21st February 2009. See article from blogs.tampabay.com County officials have filed a lawsuit asking a judge to shut down Club Elite swingers club. The lawsuit, filed Feb. 2 in Pasco County courts, alleges that Club Elite is a sexually oriented business featuring sexually themed floor shows and concerts. The performances include persons watching others engaged in sexual activities, the lawsuit alleges. The performances include persons performing sexual activities for an audience. The excuse is that the club is on commercially zoned property at 9721 U.S. 19, in a strip mall above a bakery, a deli and a dentist. County ordinances only allow sexually oriented businesses to set up shop in industrially zoned areas. Update: Fun Ended 16th June 2011. See article from www2.tbo.com Pasco County's most famous swingers club has thrown its last erotic party. Club Elite owners Eric and Angie Kubb settled a lawsuit with Pasco County over the club, where members engaged in open sex acts and bondage shows. The settlement requires them to shut down the club by July 22 and prohibits the owners from marketing the bottle club to swingers. The settlement has been approved by county commissioners. The club's website says the last party was held June 4. Adult businesses are only permitted in property zoned for industrial use, Assistant County Attorney Kristi Wooden said. Though county officials have received reports of other swingers events, Club Elite was the only established club for swingers, she said. The club can continue to operate as a bottle club, Wooden said. The owners agreed to dismantle the club's interior rooms and remove all mattresses, sheets and pillows from the property.

22nd September

Dog Eared Service ...

Rip-off dogging service fined
From The Register see full article
A text alert service for doggers has been fined £20,000 by regulator ICSTIS for breaches of the premium-rate code, including signing up punters without their knowledge and failing to respond to "stop" messages.

The "Dogger" service was run by Zamano Ltd and provided vital information for those wanting to watch, or be watched, having sex in public places.

But punters only found out they'd been signed up to the service when they received a reverse-charged SMS, at £1.50, letting them know where they should be to get in on the action.

Zamano argued it had taken on the service from another provider, and claimed to have sent out notifications (free) to all customers on the database. However, as it couldn't provide any call records, ICSTIS dismissed the argument.

The service was terminated before ICSTIS got involved, but Zamano still has to cough up the cash to compensate aggrieved non-doggers who received messages.

25th August

Tolerant Town Returns to Tolerant . ..

Vermont nudists reprieved after temporary ban
From Houston Chronicle
Vermont's clothing-optional capital is stripping off its temporary ban on public nudity.

A month after passing the temporary ban, the Brattleboro Selectboard voted 3-2 on to reject a proposed ordinance that would have made it permanent. When the emergency temporary ordinance expires next month, public nudity will no longer be illegal.

It's all about tolerance, one board member said. We in this country are going down a slippery slope these days, said Dora Bouboulis, noting a national newspaper recently published an article about the emergency ordinance under the headline Tolerant town gets intolerant.

She said it wasn't up to the town to restrict anyone's right to dress or undress.

Before the vote, residents weighed in on both sides of the debate. Michael Gauthier gave the Selectboard a petition with signatures of 967 people who support a nudity ban. What is the point, other than shock and awe, that the nudists are trying to make? he asked.
Update: Civil Infraction
17th November 2007
The Selectboard took one more step toward approving an ordinance that would prohibit nudity in Brattleboro's public areas when it asked the town manager to prepare a draft ordinance for its first reading at its next meeting on Nov. 20.

Selectboard Vice Chairman Dick DeGray said all members of the board had made compromises to make an anti-nudity ordinance acceptable. For his part, he said, he agreed to not pursue making nudity a criminal offense and would instead support keeping it a civil infraction punishable with a ticket.

Hopefully, he said, making it a civil infraction will end nudity on Brattleboro's streets: I don't want to see people getting arrested, but I don't want to see people abusing the town. If the town finds a civil action is not enough to stop the behavior, then it will need to reconsider whether to make it a criminal violation.
The ordinance will also restrict employees from taking their clothes off so as to restrict adult entertainment.
Update: Bare Faced Intolerance
16th December 2007
The Brattleboro Selectboard is prohibiting nudity in public areas of the town.

Laura Austan told the Select Board restricting nudity was a slap in the face to tolerance and personal freedom.

But Gary Gale says it's intolerant to force someone to witness a nude person.

14th August

Swinging Denver . ..

Swingers Club gets the OK in Denver
Based on an article from Denver Post
First, the Denver nightclub owners fought their neighbors. Then they fought the city. Finally, they fought the city once again.

With each battle, the owners of the Sugar House lounge pulled out tough, unexpected victories on their way to opening a nightclub that will cater to swingers, or "open-minded couples," one night a week.

Wednesday morning, they achieved what is likely their final victory: They were given a liquor license after months of wrangling with city officials.

The owners now are moving quickly to try to open as early as next week, almost 12 weeks after they had originally hoped to.

Ewing said recently that he thinks the reason he had to battle so hard for the nightclub was because some folks have moral objections to the swinger lifestyle.

16th June

Fun in Canada . ..

Mayor vows to close legal swingers club
Based on an article from Canada.com
Business was in full swing last night at Club Venus, Moncton's new gathering place for New Brunswick couples who are into swapping partners.

Owner Lenna Doiron said she now has more than 30 members signed up for the club, which the city's mayor have vowed to shut down.
Club members can come on a daily basis, she said, but Friday nights are for couples and singles and Saturday nights are for couples only.

They can just hang around, socialize and meet other people who are interested in the same lifestyle and have common interests, Doiron said. She was vague about what else will go on at Club Venus.
The prospect of a swingers club opening in a former Moncton church has the city's mayor up in arms, vowing to prevent it at all costs.
Swinging was made legal by a 2005 Supreme Court of Canada ruling. But this has not impressed Mayor Lorne Mitton who seems to be putting personal morality above the law by saying: If this is the activity that is claimed to be happening in that establishment, we will be doing all in our power to see that [it] ceases.

15th July

Update: A Morality Bashing . ..

Canadian swingers club closes
Based on an article from cbc.ca
A Moncton swingers club that opened in June to vows from politicians to shut it down has closed, at least temporarily, for personal and financial reasons, the owner said.

The Owner of Club Venus, Lenna Doiron, said her members-only club, located in a former church, filled a need for local swingers by offering couples who wanted to swap partners a place to meet each other.

Doiron said while she didn't expect everyone in the community to be a fan of the club, she wasn't expecting the backlash from politicians. She added that swingers clubs are a legal business, as the Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that it is legal for people to meet behind closed doors in clubs and have sex.

I didn't appreciate the government officials going after me, Doiron said. It shocked me and it hurt my feelings. I'm a citizen of Moncton and they bashed me. I didn't expect them to treat me like that.

Doiron closed the club's doors on Friday, citing financial and personal reasons. But the club may not be closed permanently, she says.

31st May

Club F for Fun . ..

Sunderland Swingers Club
Based on an article from ic Newcastle
A primary school head nutter has expressed concern about the lack of consultation before what claims to be the North East's largest sex club opened on her school's doorstep.

Sue McNeilly, acting head of Hudson Road Primary School, in Hendon, Sunderland, was surprised to discover that the Fizikal club, in Merton Street, only a few hundred yards from the school, hosts Club F, which claims to be "the North East's biggest and best adult party venue" for swingers.

McNeilly, who believed the premises was just a health club, said: I would have thought someone should have made us aware of this.

According to Club F's website, it has recently undergone a facelift and now features a jail cell and a "posture enhancing swing". There are also St Trinian's fancy dress nights as well as an erotic cinema, playrooms and a 12-seat jacuzzi.

A review on one swingers website said the club was full of great, fun-loving attractive couples , but another complained that too many single men were allowed into the club.

Couples are charged £20 for Saturday party nights and single men £15 for some of the other nights. A Sunderland Council spokesman said the club did not need a licence to operate, which meant there was no legal requirement to consult the neighbouring community. But he added that as a business, it was required to conform to the usual health and safety standards.

28th May

Public Sex Environment . ..

Police to create database of dogging spots
From The Telegraph see full article
Policemen are to be sent on a new intelligence-gathering assignment; their mission, to identify every "PSE", describe its profile and consult its users.

Findings of the investigations will be logged in a central register held by the Metropolitan Police Force. Results will then be used to implement a grand strategy known by Scotland Yard as the "multi-agency management of PSEs".

A PSE - public sex environment - is better known as an outdoor spot where people meet for sexual encounters. Most PSEs are used by homosexual men, but police are receiving a growing number of complaints about heterosexuals meeting for outdoor sex, a practice known as "dogging".

The new scheme will have an initial trial in London, but if it is a success it could be extended nationwide. Supporters claim it will improve relations between the police and users of the sites, and encourage greater reporting of robberies and homophobic assaults.

Police re-examined their approach to outdoor sex after the murder of Jody Dobrowski on Clapham Common, south London, in 2005 when some potential witnesses were reluctant to speak to them.

John Roberts, an MPA member who helped draw up the new strategy, said: There's a big community out there using these environments that we have not been protecting.

6th May

Bed and Breakfast and Sex and Fun. ..

City killjoys see otherwise
From the Fox 23
City officials from Schenectady, New York State, are expected to serve a cease and desist order on the owner of a local bed and breakfast this week.

Bob Alexson admits that he hosts swinger parties in the basement of his Union Street Bed and Breakfast.

The embattled bed and breakfast owner has been fighting with the city and some of his neighbors about what else goes on inside 1362 Union Street.

I have private parties, he explains. My friends are always welcome to come and sit in my hot tub and enjoy themselves and talk and I love to cook. I've got a huge commercial kitchen. I cook for them. We have a good time.

That good time that often involves adult activities for the swingers who attend the parties Bob says he holds daily. Alexson swears he hasn't collected one cent since the city changed the law last October to include his swingers club into the definition of adult entertainment.

The city has been building a case to force him to restrict his parties to industrial zones.

6th May

Orgy Parties . ..

A new trend in Japan
From the Japan Times see full article
A popular buzzword on the Internet these days is the Japanese phrase for "orgy party". Search for the term 'ranko' party and you'll come up with hundreds of thousands of hits.

Some of the Web sites are for swingers but the vast majority are merely ads for the latest trend in prostitution. At these so-called "orgies," the guys pay money to take part, and the women are professionals.

More than 100 groups seemed to have sprung up since last year in central Tokyo, but there are only three authentic, not-for-profit ones, says an anonymous man, who counts himself among the very few authentic swingers.

Why the proliferation of these professional "orgy parties" in Tokyo? The main reason is the crackdown against local naughty nightlife, which city hall has been waging during the last few years. As the authorities drive prostitution deeper and deeper underground, sex-establishment operators have discovered that the sex parties are a relatively safe and highly profitable field of business.

Advertising is done furtively, on the Internet or through word of mouth. The venues are usually hotel rooms.

As for the fees, male participants in the classy members-only orgies pay anywhere from 100,000 yen to 500,000 yen per session. Yearly memberships can run as high as 5 million yen. For these prices, participants can expect to cavort with aspiring fashion models and actresses. On the other end of the fee scale are the common one-off parties, costing from 10,000 yen to 50,000 yen per session. The women usually hail from massage parlors and other sex establishments.

With good money to be made, we can expect the orgy parties to become a more common part of the sex scene, at least until the Tokyo government's next round of crackdowns.

30th March

My Year of Swinging ...

A new book by Ewan Morrison
From the Belfast Telegraph . Well worth reading the full article
Swung is available at UK Amazon
Using websites, swingers arrange to meet up across Northern Ireland. And, while working on a novel about swingers, Swung , acclaimed author Ewan Morrison spent a year exploring this secret sexual subculture.
Ewan Morrison writes: My year of swinging ended before I completed my book. I felt I had to stop and take stock and that a novel would be the vehicle for that. The year ended with a prior stage of escalation – an invitation to an orgy

I met so many people who claimed their lives had been enriched. And it still makes me ask if the conventions of monogamy are too repressive. Although swingers rarely quote psychologists or radical thinkers, there is an unspoken philosophy akin to that expounded by Erich Fromme and the polyfidelity movement (a sexual variation on communal living): a belief that polyfidelity cures the social problems of loneliness, jealousy, adultery, social fragmentation and emotional boredom.

My year of swinging ended with many new friends who were no longer lovers. Which leads me to believe that swinging is, for the committed core, a lifestyle that they live day-in day-out. But for the majority who pass through the websites, it is a stage gone through for a year or so, a volatile stage filled with questions about limits and boundaries. Who I am? How will I live? Can I be happy? Can I love? What is love? Swinging is not so much an answer as a question asked deeply – for as many philosophers say, the only questions worth asking should place your life, and your body, at the heart of the question.

22nd March

Grotty Landlords ...

Swingers evicted from Tory owned flat
From ic Newcastle
Conservative Club bigwigs voted out a tenant at one of their properties after discovering he was swinging to an altogether more liberal kind of party.

Members of the Benton Conservative Club, in Longbenton, North Tyneside objected to their flat being used as the home of Club 2000, which describes itself as: The first dedicated adult club for liberated and broadminded adults right here in the North East.

Conservative Club secretary Paul McGivern said: It's a self-contained flat but it is in the same building as the club and is owned by the club. The tenant came with very good references and in many ways has been a model tenant because he always pays his rent on time and we've had no trouble.
He added: To be honest, it has been greeted with general hilarity among the club members. We've had a good old chuckle about it . . . especially reading some of the stuff on the website.

The club, run by a couple known only as Kay and Garry, charges a £10 membership fee and a £15 admission charge per couple which includes complimentary tea, coffee and a buffet.

The website features reviews of the club posted by couples who have attended parties. One says: The place is a flat above a bingo hall and if you can hear the people below playing bingo God alone knows what they can hear from above.

But a less favourable reviewer wrote: If I am going to spend 15 quid a couple and a tenner up front for membership we would at least like a bit more than a two-bedroomed grotty flat.

20th February

Nude Prude ...

Objecting to nude bathing club coming to Bognor
Based on an article from Chichester.co.uk
Nude bathing sessions and events for gays are among the activities lined up at the latest leisure venue in Bognor Regis.

The naturist sauna and swimming pool occasions will be held regularly at Caesars above the High Street. The social events for male and female gays will form part of alternative Sunday sessions at the club.

Owner Peter Bedford said he expected to hold the alternative events regularly: They will be for people who are like-minded. There are a lot of people with these lifestyles. We want to be able to cater for everyone.

Bedford believed that people would accept naturist and gay events in 2007: We are not forcing anybody's life on to anyone else. This is a private members' club and we want to give the correct image to people.

Prudish Bognor town councillor Michelle White condemned the advent of nude bathing in the town centre: I am concerned about the advent of naturist sauna sessions in Bognor for a variety of reasons. Over the past year, Bognor has seen the opening of a hard core licensed sex shop with strippers at the Mud Club.

Yes, whether people use these services and the new services is a matter of personal lifestyle choice. Yes, they are behind closed doors... BUT... the protection of the more vulnerable members of society is something we need to seriously consider, and urgently.

5th February

Swinging to Blackmail ...

Swingers made secret video s of the action
Based on an article from Newsday.com
A Long Island couple, who trolled a "swingers" Web site for partners, cooked up a scheme to turn their coupling into illegal profits: They secretly videotaped and photographed sex they had with consenting adults they met online and forced them to pay up or risk seeing their images in public.

One woman shelled out $51,000 to keep the images from getting into the hands of her husband, Nassau police said. That woman from upstate New York, and a Garden City man who also was married, were the first alleged victims to turn up in an initial investigation. The two victims did not know one another.

But judging by the large number of seized snapshots and video, dozens more across New York State fell prey to the scheme. Some are well-known men and women who have been contacted by investigators after a few were recognized in the pictures.

We are contacting people with reputations to uphold, said Det. Lt. Ray Cote of Nassau's Third Squad. He declined to name names.

Police have arrested Michael Largue and his lover, Shawn Payne on multiple grand larceny charges. Largue and Payne, who themselves met online, worked as a team. Largue would lure the women into a sexual relationship that was later extorted for cash, while Payne did the same with men, police said.

Payne was arrested and charged with second-degree grand larceny, fourth-degree grand larceny and first-degree scheming to defraud. She was also charged with promoting prostitution. Payne has pleaded not guilty to the charges and was being held on bail. Largue was arrested on multiple charges of grand larceny. He pleaded not guilty Wednesday and is also being held on bail.

The couple's next court date is Friday in Nassau County Court.

8th January

Middle Door ...

US swingers venue comes under scrutiny
Based on an article from the Seacoast Online
A biweekly American swingers party has been hosted at the same Portsmouth residence for 17 years
The events are posted on the Middle Door website but this has come under scrutiny by the police and council.
We've advised the property owners that the conduct represented by their Internet material appears to be a violation of city ordinance and needs to be ceased, said City Attorney Bob Sullivan. The bottom line is that it's zoned for residential use, and this kind of activity is not considered by the city to be normal residential use of the property.

That activity, as represented online by the Middle Door, includes alternate Saturday night sex parties for couples and singles to explore themselves, unleash their passions, discover their sensuality, try something new, watch others enjoy, or take part.

An anonymous, handwritten complaint was sent to local state police headquarters. The complaint reported the timing of the swingers parties, directed police to the Middle Door Web site and said "the neighbors want it stopped." It also reported "people arriving in bus-like vehicles from out of state," parking problems and the opinion that charging an attendance fee for swingers, with the exception of single females, constitutes prostitution.

The city attorney said that he could not comment further on the matter except to say, the city will monitor the property to determine whether any impermissible activities are occurring.