Crime
The 69-year-old was accused of encouraging sexual acts in private rooms at the Connecticut strip club he owned.
A Holland, Massachusetts, man pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges tied to the promotion and facilitation of prostitution at a Connecticut strip club he owned for decades, authorities said.
Kenneth Denning, 69, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to use an interstate facility to promote prostitution, one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and two counts of participating in monetary transactions involving property obtained through illegal activities, according to a statement from Connecticut U.S. Attorney David Sullivan’s office.
Denning owned Electric Blue, a strip club in Tolland, Connecticut, since the 1990s. The business operated under the name “Denning Enterprises,” until it was sold in January 2025, Sullivan’s office said.
According to court documents, customers paid a cash cover charge — typically about $5 — to enter the club. Dancers were also required to pay a “house fee” of up to $50 per shift.
Prosecutors said customers paid additional fees to access private rooms, including “VIP rooms,” “Champagne rooms,” and a “lap dance room,” where dancers were “encouraged to engage in commercial sex transactions.”
Customers regularly paid dancers for sex acts in the “lap dance room,” which Denning was aware of, court records state. Denning could monitor the room through security cameras located in the back office at the club.
The fee to enter the “lap dance room” was $20, while access to other private rooms cost between $100 and $150, according to court documents. Customers would then negotiate separate payments directly with dancers, often totalling hundreds of dollars, prosecutors said.
Despite Connecticut laws prohibiting fully nude dancing, Denning “allowed and encouraged dangers to be fully nude,” court documents state.
Court records further state Denning and club employees supplied dancers with condoms and had dancers sign contracts stating they could not engage in sexual acts or inappropriate touching on the premises — documents prosecutors alleged were an attempt to conceal illegal activity.
Denning additionally used money from the club — which was referred to as “Kenny’s money” — to pay for business expenses and personal costs, including casino gambling trips, according to Sullivan’s office. In February 2023, he allegedly deposited about $21,700 in cash at Mohegan Sun Casino for gambling purposes.
Prosecutors said Denning and his bookkeeper provided spreadsheets of the Electric Blue’s purported income to the club’s tax return preparer that “purposefully omitted ‘Kenny’s money.’”
During a March 2023 search of Electric Blue, investigators seized more than $45,400 in cash from a safe in Denning’s office. Records indicated that more than $39,700 of that amount had been collected in just over 13 days, according to Sullivan’s office.
After reviewing the records, investigators estimated that nearly $3 million in taxable business income went unreported to the IRS for the 2020, 2021, and 2022 tax years, Sullivan’s office said.
Authorities also alleged Denning fraudulently obtained a federal COVID-19 relief loan during the pandemic. Prosecutors said he falsely certified on an Economic Injury Disaster Loan application that the business did not present “live performances of a prurient sexual nature” and instead described the business as “Eating & Drinking Places.”
Electric Blue received $149,900 in EIDL funding in July 2020, and Denning transferred $20,000 of those funds into his personal bank account, according to court documents.
Denning was arrested on May 15, 2024. As part of his plea agreement, he agreed to pay $550,000 in restitution to the IRS and $150,000 to the Small Business Administration. He also agreed to forfeit the $45,421 in cash seized from the Electric Blue in March 2023 and an additional $1,047 seized from his home at the time of his arrest, according to Sullivan’s office.
Denning was indicted alongside the club’s manager and bookkeeper, Joshua Baker, of Willimantic, Connecticut, and its bouncer, William Mayo, of Manchester, Connecticut.
Baker pleaded guilty in June 2025 to violating the Travel Act, conspiracy to defraud the IRS, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to court documents. Mayo pleaded guilty in June 2024 to conspiracy to violate the Travel Act.
The charges against Denning carry a combined maximum sentence of 50 years in prison, according to Sullivan’s office. He was released on a $250,000 bond, pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled yet.
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