Strip club manager to stand trial Tuesday for soliciting sex with girl, 9

The former manager of a local strip-club chain is set to stand trial in Colorado on Tuesday for allegedly traveling to meet a police detective posing as a mother willing to involve her 9-year-old daughter in sex.

Ward Ryan Welty, 36, whose family owns Tropical Lei in Upland and two other strip clubs, communicated online and by phone with the undercover detective for nearly a year before his June arrest in rural Fremont County, Colo.

Read past stories here and here.

According to Welty's defense attorney, the criminal charges in Colorado should be dismissed because the prosecution violates Colorado's double-jeopardy laws.

Welty pleaded guilty in West Valley Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga last month to three felony charges filed in the wake of a local investigation launched after Welty's arrest in Colorado.

Welty, of Rancho Cucamonga, maintains he is innocent of the local charges, said Roger Diamond, Welty's attorney, but entered the plea to avoid prosecution in Colorado, where he has been charged with five felonies and faces a potential life prison sentence.

"He would have much preferred to fight the case in California, but by pleading -- even though he has a defense to the charge -- by pleading guilty in California he hoped to use the double-jeopardy provision of Colorado law to avoid a life sentence in Colorado for an alleged crime that he actually did not commit," Diamond said.

Diamond's motion to dismiss the charges against Welty on double-jeopardy grounds was denied by a Fremont County judge on Monday.

Read Diamond's motion to dismiss: 030909WeltyMotionToDismiss.pdf

Diamond has appealed the ruling to the Colorado Supreme Court, and said the court could grant the dismissal or issue a stay postponing Welty's Colorado trial date until it rules on the double-jeopardy issue.

At the close of business Friday, the Colorado Supreme Court hadn't issued a stay or ruled on Diamond's appeal, according to the court clerk's office.

Welty's father, Waldon Randall Welty, is the owner of Manta Management, the parent company of Tropical Lei, the Flesh Club in San Bernardino, and the Hawaii Theatre in the City of Industry.

Ryan Welty has been identified in past news reports as the owner or manager of Tropical Lei and the Flesh Club. Diamond has said those descriptions are inaccurate.

Welty has no current role in his father's company, he and Diamond have said.

If Welty's case goes to trial in Colorado as scheduled on Tuesday, the proceedings could conflict with his Friday sentencing date in Rancho Cucamonga.

Welty faces up to five years, four months in prison when he is sentenced locally, though he is also eligible for probation, Diamond said.

If Welty's trial in Colorado continues through Friday, he will miss his sentencing date in Rancho Cucamonga, Diamond said.

Welty may never face sentencing in California if he is convicted by a Colorado jury and jailed pending sentencing there.

Diamond -- as well as prosecutors locally and in Colorado -- say they don't know how the issue of the dual prosecutions will be resolved.

Welty began communicating with the undercover police detective in August 2007 in a Yahoo.com "fetish" chat room, according to a Cañon City, Colo. police report.

The detective was posing as a 29-year-old woman willing to involve her 9-year-old daughter in sex -- Welty told the woman he had been searching for such an arrangement for more than three years, the report said.

Welty traveled to Colorado in June to visit the woman, and was arrested by Cañon City police when he arrived at a prearranged meeting place in Penrose, Colo., a rural city about 100 miles south of Denver, the report said.

After Welty's arrest, San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies served search warrants at his Rancho Cucamonga apartment, Tropical Lei and other locations.

Deputies found about $60,000 in steroids they allege Welty was selling, as well as three child-pornography images on Welty's computers, according to police testimony at a January preliminary hearing.

Welty pleaded guilty in West Valley Superior Court last month to three felonies related to steroids, child pornography, and contacting a minor for a lewd act.

The original version of this post incorrectly reported Welty's age as 38.