Federal prosecutors are probing two DEA agents’ suspected ties to this go-go lounge in South Hackensack.
NEW YORK CITY –
A Lyndhurst civilian DEA employee is one of two men arrested May 20 in New York City and charged with making false statements, after an investigation revealed the two lied about having an ownership interest in a South Hackensack go-go bar, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara announced last week.
Glen Glover, 42, of Lyndhurst, a DEA Information Technology Specialist, and David Polos, 51, of West Nyack, N.Y., until recently an Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge with the DEA, allegedly told the government they had no financial interest at the adult entertainment establishment.
The complaint filed in federal court alleges Polos, who supervised the Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Strike Force, and Glover, not a sworn agent of the DEA, failed to disclose their employment at and ownership interests in Twins Plus Go-Go Lounge, 125 Saddle River Ave., South Hackensack.
Investigators say they learned of the pair’s connection to the lounge after a background check was done to determine their suitability as employees of a federal law enforcement agency with access to classified information.
The national security background forms Glover and Polos allegedly submitted require disclosure of any employment outside the DEA, in part because of concerns about certain types of employment, including a proximity to crime and people involved in crime — and the risk of employee blackmail.
Both Glover and Polos surrendered to the FBI in Manhattan on May 20, and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Kevin Fox in Manhattan federal court later that day.
“David Polos and Glen Glover had important and sensitive law-enforcement jobs with the DEA,” Bharara said. “As alleged in the complaint, they also had other secret jobs, which they concealed from the DEA, in order to maintain their national-security clearance, betraying the oaths they had taken and creating needless risk for the agency they worked for.”
FBI Assistant Director-in- Charge Diego Rodriguez, to whom both men surrendered, slammed them for allegedly keeping their involvement with the lounge a secret.
“We expect those in government — and particularly those charged with enforcing the law — to tell the truth,” Rodriguez said. “As alleged, the defendants’ lack of candor is what finds them before a judge today [May 20] in Manhattan Federal Court.”
According to court documents:
Glover and Polos allegedly submitted national-security forms in August and September 2011, respectively, that stated, among other things, that they did not have employment other than at their DEA jobs within the previous seven years.
The documents allege Glover was a part owner of the club and Polos had a convertible ownership interest in the club, which featured scantily clad and sometimes topless women dancers and offered private stalls for what were supposed to be limited contact dances between dancers and their patrons.
As Glover and Polos are alleged to have known, prosecutors say many of the dancers — who at times engaged in sexual acts with club patrons and staff — were undocumented immigrants not lawfully in the United States.
Glover and Polos both allegedly worked regular 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; they advertised the club in local newspapers; they manned a back office available only to employees; remotely monitored video camera feeds from the club when not present; and generally tended to various club-related matters. The two men also are alleged to have, at times, attended to club matters during DEA work hours.
Had Glover and Polos truthfully disclosed their employment at the club, their ownership and involvement in the affairs of the club would have been investigated as part of their background checks, and the security clearances that they were required to maintain as federal law enforcement employees likely would have been denied, prosecutors say.
The feds allege that Glover did did not tell people at the club he was involved in law enforcement. Polos, however, allegedly once lifted up a pant leg for the wife of a co-owner of the lounge during an argument, pointed to a gun on his ankle, and said: “This is the boss. I am the boss.”
Dancers allegedly were required to pay the club owner’s anywhere from $10 to $30 a night to dance. “Most of the dancers were undocumented immigrants from either Brazil or Russia,” the court documents say. Glover and Polos were aware the women weren’t citizens, the documents say, because the dancers often made it clear they weren’t.
On Aug. 11, 2011, President Barack Obama was in town, and Glover and Polos, in a series of text messages, allegedly joked about getting the president to the club to “check out” certain dancers.
Polos and Glover are each charged with one count of making false statements, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Visit www.TheObserver.com to read the 20-page complaint filed in federal court.
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