Allegations: Elected official & real estate broker under investigation by State Attorney's Office after trespass warning by cops from strip club amid allegations of trying to coerce female employees to provide sexual favors & threatening to bring heat on the owner to sell his property below market value
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Carl Lentz, IV, a real estate agent won a seat on the City Commission on his first try, back in 2012, thanks in part to inherent advantages.
Namely class status and privilege as the son of a prominent plastic surgeon. And on the surface, a young man whose public persona has been to say and do all the right things along the way.
That is until 11 days ago when the cops were summoned to a strip club less than two miles from his stately beachside home after Club Topic owner William Bittorf told a 9-1-1 dispatcher that Lentz was intoxicated, had become verbally and physically combative -- even throwing a drink at a bartender after a request that a sex act be performed on him was rebuffed.
The owner also claimed in the call that Lentz earlier threatened to sick the cops on him and have his establishment put out of business if he didn't agree to sell his property -- a stone's throw from the World's Most Famous Beach -- at well below market value.
Headline Surfer® was the last media outlet to report on this story, thanks Chief o Police Michael Chitwood who gift-wrapped it for the Daytona Beach News-Journal before the Orlando TV stations jumped on it the following day.
With nothing released by the police despite attempts to obtain documentation already provided to competing media f, the internet newspaper went directly to Lentz himself, knocking on his door, only to be turned away by Lentz himself.
Peering from the other side of a half opened-door, trembling and on the verge of tears, Lentz simply stated, "I can't give you a comment; my lawyer has already sent you a statement in an email."
When told by Headline Surfer® it couldn't find it, he sent a text on his phone and stated, "She just sent it again."
Asked specifically by Headline Surfer® if there was any truth to the allegations of using his elected office either for sexual favors or to benefit from a sweetheart real estate transaction by means of threat of the influence of his position of public trust, Lentz said, "I'm sorry, but I've been advised but my lawyer not to make any comments to the press."
Chitwood told the News-Journal that Lentz twice called him well into the overnight hours and he refused to help him, telling the newspaper he would meet with State Attorney RJ Larizza the following Monday to have his office determine whether a crime had been committed.
And though Headline Surfer® was unable to receive anything official from the cops until well into that weekend, the internet newspaper has nonetheless obtained exclusive video footage that is now in the public eye for the first time with this published report.
And it could be the one piece of evidence that could drive him from public office regardless of whether charges materialize.
Lentz is shown, beer bottle in one hand, money in the other, stuffing a bill (denomination unclear) into a plus-sized stripper's panties as she's bent over and straddling the edge of the dance floor.
The stripper's stage name? "Betty Bang."
Community reaction was what you would expect -- even by those who hadn't seen this footage for themselves other than being told what was depicted.
"He's finished -- Lentz is through," said Paul Politis, owner of Gator Beach & Sport across from the sprawling Ocean Walk on A1A.
"It wasn't common knowledge, but he had a dark side," said Politis, adding Lentz had been coddled and protected even with previous incidents. "It just never got reported and you can probably figure out why."
Volusia County Chair Jason Davis said he can't see where Lentz survives this politically, even if alleged legal charges are never brought.
"This is a morals issue he can't explain away," Davis said. "How can he be expected to take care of the public's business unless he's taken care of his personal business first. It just creates a black cloud for everyone else around him."
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