IRS raids Methuen official's strip club and home

Methuen officials took their fair share of ribbing when the superintendent of parks and recreation opened a strip club named Kittens in Salisbury. They took more heat when the police chief was accused of mismanaging federal grants, verbally abusing officers, and ordering officers to install surveillance equipment at his sister's house.

Yesterday, after Internal Revenue Service agents raided Kittens and the park superintendent's home, they were all but burying their heads in their hands, wondering if things could get any worse.

"It's not a story that Methuen needs right now," said Philip J. Lahey, Jr., the chairman of the City Council. "We've got enough stuff going on between the ex-chief of police and whatnot. It's pretty embarrassing for Methuen."

City Councilor Joseph A. Leone III sounded more sad than angry.

"More of the same, just another round in Methuen," he said. "Every week, there's another story in the paper about somebody getting in trouble. It is getting tedious, and I don't know what the solution is, believe me."

City officials said they did not know why on Thursday the IRS raided Kittens and the Methuen home of the superintendent, Kevin G. Moury. Moury was not arrested and has not been charged with any crime. The IRS declined comment, and Moury did not return messages left at Kittens, the Parks Department, and his home. Methuen police said that the IRS gave them advance warning of the raid, but that they were not involved.

"The IRS went to his business and to his home, of that there is no doubt," Mayor William M. Manzi III said. "But what that means, and what they're looking at, is not known to the city."

Moury's lawyer, Arthur J. Broadhurst, said that he did not know where the IRS investigation is headed and that his client and his client's wife, Debbie, were surprised by the raid.

"They run a good clean business, and they've never been in trouble," said Broadhurst, a former Democratic state representative from Methuen.

Such raids are not uncommon. The IRS employs about 2,800 special agents responsible for investigating possible criminal violations of the federal tax code.

The raid comes in the midst of a rough year for Methuen. Much of the city has been gripped by a long battle between the mayor and the former police chief, Joseph E. Solomon, who was fired in May after city officials accused him of ethical lapses and mismanagement of federal grant money. Solomon, who has denied any wrongdoing, is appealing his termination and has suggested that bias was behind the accusations. He is of Lebanese descent.

Moury, however, has attracted little attention in his 16 years as parks superintendent, a job that he assumed after serving two terms on the City Council, from 1988 to 1992, and briefly considering a run for mayor.

"Very nice man," said Deborah R. Quinn, council vice chairwoman. "I've never heard one complaint against the man."

Moury, 51, raised more eyebrows as a businessman. He owned the Sweetheart Inn in Methuen and Shannon's Place restaurant in Lawrence, before he and his wife opened Kittens in 2004, a strip club that features an array of exotic dancers, a "VIP Lounge," and a mirrored room in which patrons can pay to watch women shower.

Some in Methuen cringed to see a city official at the helm of such an establishment.

"We took some pretty good ribbing," Lahey said, particularly from elected officials in neighboring towns.

Still, Lahey said, there was nothing anyone could do. "It's not illegal," he said, "and everybody's got a right to make a buck, anyway they see fit."

Manzi said the city is waiting to see where the IRS investigation heads before deciding what action, if any, to take against Moury.

"We'll just take a wait-and-see attitude," Manzi said. "And having known him for a long time, I certainly hope everything is OK."

In the meantime, Moury is going about business as usual, at the Parks Department and at Kittens.

"He's going to work and doing his job," Broadhurst said. "Nothing's been shut down; nothing's been closed."

Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.