The New York Police Department is accused of entrapping and falsely arresting innocent gay and bisexual men found at adult video stores to create a case for shutting down the stores.

According to AVN, they have already forced one store to close: the building sold for $12.3 million, and the property is under redevelopment.

The lawsuit was filed by Robert Pinter, a gay man who was arrested when visiting adult video store Blue Door. Pinter says a young Asian-American male confronted him outside of the store. The man, an undercover officer, offered to provide oral sex in his car on the corner. Pinter, 53, agreed, but on their way out, the young man mentioned he wanted to pay Pinter $50. Pinter says he ignored it, but when they got outside, he was pushed against a wall without being shown identification, and arrested for prostitution.

Pinter, who took a guilty plea for disorderly conduct and served a light sentence, eventually fought the conviction with others who complained of the same treatment. His charges were dropped. According to The Villager, Pinter is one of 30 men arrested for prostitution outside six adult video stores.

The video stores often do not know what is happening until they receive notice to shut down.

Now Pinter is fighting back, heading a lawsuit and a group called the Coalition to Stop the Arrests. The lawsuit names as defendants Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Police Commissioner Ray Kelly; Shari Hyman, director of the Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement; other senior uniformed police officials; and the undercover arresting officer, identified only as badge number 31107.

Deputy Commissioner for Public Information Paul Browne says department members are meeting with community representatives to discuss specific arrests, and the talks have been going well, “The police activity was in response to community complaints of prostitution and other problems at a few locations,” [Gay Lesbian Times]. Browne maintains that the NYPD is not targeting the gay community.

There were 242 closings or stipulations in 2008 in Manhattan under “nuisance abatement,” 100 involving prostitution. Three were gay, X-rated DVD stores at which prostitution occurred, according to complaints. Citywide, 17 percent of men arrested for prostitution are over 40, but they make up 66 percent of the 12 arrests in front of Blue Door.

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is working with the Mayor’s office, the NYPD, and gay activist groups, “We need to have the arrest policy stopped and to figure out how it started. This egregious targeting of gay men is not even entrapment. These are false arrests.”

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