Alex Taylor and Thane Grauel

The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News

WEST NYACK, N.Y. — An alleged scam that had strippers drugging wealthy men and running up huge credit card bills in New York City appeared to have done little to dent the appetite of the Thursday afternoon crowd at Lace Gentlemen's Club.

"I think it's crazy," said Ryan, 31, a New York man who sat at the topless bar in West Nyack, N.Y., sipping a beer. "People like me want to come here to relax, look at the pretty women and have a drink."

Ryan, who asked that his last name not be used, spent a few minutes discussing the story with two friends while watching a neon-lit stage show featuring female dancers.

As Kid Rock blasted over the sound system and the World Cup played on flat-screen televisions, Ryan said it's not exactly news that New York's strip clubs are frequented by predators and shady characters.

"If you see me, I've got my finger over my drink," he said, plugging his bottle of beer.

Two Lace employees declined to speak to The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News on Thursday. A manager also declined to comment as he ejected a reporter from the barn-like building, one of two strip joints in Rockland County, N.Y.

This week, the Drug Enforcement Administration and New York Police Department investigators arrested four women — all described as professional strippers — and a club manager on charges including grand larceny, assault and forgery.

One of the alleged strippers, Roselyn Keo, is from Nanuet, N.Y. She was released on $5,000 bail.

Keo's lawyer declined to comment. A woman who answered the buzzer at the address police gave for Keo on Thursday said she'd never heard of her.

Carmine Vitolo, manager of a Queens strip club who lives in Pomona, N.Y., pleaded not guilty and was released without bail. His lawyer also declined to comment.

According to authorities, the scam took place between September and December 2013. It involved the women meeting four wealthy men for dates, then dosing their drinks with substances including ketamine, a tranquilizer, and methylone, known as "molly."

The drugged victims were driven to Scores, an expensive strip club in Manhattan, and the RoadHouse NYC in Flushing, Queens, where their credit cards were swiped, racking up between $5,000 and $50,000 in unauthorized charges.

Some of the men — including a banker and a real estate attorney — wound up not knowing what had happened, according to authorities. The strippers then threatened to expose the men publicly if they contested the bills, which included forged signatures.

"This repugnant scheme involved not only the theft of $200,000, but compromised the health, safety and security of victims by covertly giving them harmful substances," said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan. "The defendants were banking on the victims being too afraid to contact the police, but as the indictment and arrests show, they made a serious miscalculation."

Steve Kardian, a retired Mount Pleasant police officer and personal safety expert, said men are just as susceptible as women to ketamine and other powerful sedatives — known as date-rape drugs and "roofies" — because, tasteless and colorless, they can be slipped into drinks without the victim's knowledge. Victims pass out and often have no memory of the incident.

"Believe me it's not exclusive to woman," said Kardian, who currently works for the United States Department of Justice. "It's used quite frequently to this purpose."

Kardian advises men and woman to be wary of accepting drinks from anyone. He also recommends sticking to bottled beers and never letting a drink out of your immediate sight — even if it means taking it into the bathroom.

"It only takes half a second to contaminate your drink," Kardian said. "Boom. You've been compromised."

Financial adviser Leslie Tayne, a credit and debt attorney, said many successful professionals — including doctors, lawyers and even tax professionals and financial planners — are susceptible to credit card fraud.

In some cases, it's because the theft involves a friend, a relative or someone who worked in the victim's home. In others, it occurred in a situation that could potentially lead to personal embarrassment and professional jeopardy.

Tayne hypothesized there are more strip club victims out there, too embarrassed to come forward and file a claim with police.

"There's a reason why there are no windows in a strip club," she said. "There's a stigma attached to them as a general rule. Maybe it's something a family member doesn't approve of. Maybe the victim says to himself, 'Stupid me, I'm just going to pay up. I'm just going to try to avoid the public embarrassment.' "

Contributing: Steve Lieberman, The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News.