Pleasantville City Council unanimously voted to revoke the mercantile license of the strip club where an underage man alleged drank before being found dead down the road.
The hearing was not about how 19-year-old Irving Mayren-Guzman died, prosecutor Jenna Cook told the room full of supporters Wednesday night.
"This hearing does not deal at all with anything that caused or related to that young man's death," she said. "That is the subject of a pending criminal investigation."
While Mayren-Guzman's death was not the hearing's focus, his last hours were part of the evidence presented by Cooke.
That included one of friends who testified that he was 19 when he was allowed to enter the club. He said he and Mayren-Guzman both showed their vertical identification, which indicates a driver is underage.
He also testified that they were served alcohol.
Video showed him, Mayren-Guzman and another friend entering the club and showing their identification.
It was not his first time, the teen testified. Each time, he said he presented his legal identification showing his true age.
Centerfolds did not contest that there was drinking going on that shouldn't have, attorney Bruce Ward said.
"I want to express, from me to you, the sorrow and the grief that the owner has," Ward told the family. "I also want to express my sorrow."
Instead, Centerfolds pushed for a fine.
"They think they're going to write another check and go about their business," said Ed Weinstock, a local attorney who spoke during public comment.
He listed the previous Alcoholic Beverage Commission violations in years past the would have led to a suspension of Centerfolds' liquor license.
Instead, they paid $48,800 to avoid a 100-day suspension in 2011; $150,000 to avoid an indefinite suspension, and $35,000 paid in 2020 to avoid an 82-day suspension.
"What does that tell you?" Weinstock asked. "They don't care. They don't change their practices, they just feel they're going to buy their way out of it."
Mayren-Guzman's mother also spoke.
"I am here to demand justice for my son," she said.
She said them serving him underage and not doing anything to stop him from being beaten by three men now jailed led to her son's death.
"They didn't just kill him, they killed me as well and his family," she said.
A live-stream of the meeting was broadcast to a crowd outside.
After the vote, those gathered applauded.
