A series of deadly incidents involving a strip club near West Chicago has prompted the DuPage County Board to consider banning alcohol at adult businesses, but the club’s owner said a complete ban will not prevent future problems.

Board member Jim Zay, R-6th District, of Carol Stream formed a subcommittee to investigate additional restrictions in response to two fatal car crashes and a murder involving the club since 2005. The group held its first public hearing on the issue Tuesday.

Ari Pomerantz, the owner of Diamonds Gentlemen’s Club, expressed willingness to work with County Board members to come to an agreeable solution, but said simply banning alcohol would not be a viable option. Diamonds is the only business that would be affected by such a ban.

“We’re going to have a ton of people who are going to drink wherever they drink, and they’re going to drink excessively because they know they can’t drink at Diamonds,” he said. “I don’t know that just banning this is the answer.”

Diamonds, on North Avenue near West Chicago, is a fully nude club and does not serve alcohol. But patrons older than 21 are allowed to bring in their own. The minimum age for entry is 18. Patrons younger than 21 are seated in a separate area, said Pomerantz, a Melrose Park resident.

County ordinances prohibit fully nude clubs from obtaining liquor licenses, but Ted Penesis, industry education manager for the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, said the county can change the law.

Pomerantz said Diamonds employees closely monitor the amount of alcohol patrons bring to the club and will not allow someone to enter with an excessive amount. Patrons are only allowed to bring a six-pack of beer, and the club limits the amount of soft drinks or juice sold to those who are drinking alcohol.

The business strictly enforces its alcohol policies and takes the safety of its patrons and the nearby community very seriously, Pomerantz said. When pressed by board members, he admitted that there are no posted guidelines for exactly how much liquor patrons can bring into the club.

“Diamonds has always had the interests of this community in our minds in everything we do, and always will,” Pomerantz said. “We put a lot of effort into making sure this establishment is safe. Any employee, past or present, any customer ... would attest to that fact. We are very safe.”  

Zay asked if, for example, two men would be allowed to enter Diamonds with a full 750-milliliter bottle of vodka.

Pomerantz said his employees would deny entry in such a situation, but Zay said in doing background investigations in preparation for the hearing, he was allowed to enter the club under those exact circumstances.

Pomerantz denied the widely reported connections between the club and two of the fatal incidents that prompted the hearing.

After leaving the club on May 25, 2005, Wheaton resident Shelley Dogra crashed his car into a tree on Indian Knoll Road near West Chicago, killing three passengers, authorities said. Dogra, 28, is serving a seven-year prison sentence.

Bradley Justice, 31, of Sandwich beat a pizza delivery driver to death Nov. 2, 2006, near Diamonds, authorities said. He ordered a pizza from the cell phone of a club valet and asked that it be delivered to a lot across the street.

Pomerantz said security videos from the club show that Dogra and his passengers were not drinking at Diamonds. Justice was not a patron of the club, but a nearby neighbor who asked the valet to borrow a cell phone because his home phone wasn’t working, Pomerantz said.

Another fatal car crash occurred on Jan. 4, 2006, when John Homatas, 27, of Wayne drove head-on into the car of April Simmons on Route 25 near Kenyon Road in Kane County.

Simmons, a 28-year-old Yorkville resident, was eight months pregnant and returning home from her job in Elgin. Simmons, her unborn child and Homatas’s passenger, 25-year-old John Chiariello of St. Charles, were killed. Homatas had been drinking at Diamonds prior to the crash, authorities said. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for reckless homicide.

Chiariello’s brother-in-law, Marty Walsh of Bartlett, also testified at the hearing.

“With all the alcohol-related accidents we hear about, places like this should not be allowed to exist,” Walsh said. “The BYOB establishments are allowed to operate without responsibility, liability and/or any accountability for their operations.

“Diamonds thrives on alcohol,” he said. “They may not sell it, but they provide the mixers to go with it.”