Chapel’s woes are growing

Reports of threats and violence involving a wedding chapel got a public airing before the Las Vegas City Council on Wednesday.

But anyone looking for closure to the city's long-brewing wedding chapel feud came away disappointed. In fact, the mess just got messier.

Las Vegas Garden of Love is fighting to keep its business license against efforts by its competitors and some city staff to give the chapel the boot.

But a day of semi-judicial proceedings before the council about harassment, intimidation and assaults ended with a whimper when two ministers who had performed wedding ceremonies at the Garden of Love opted to lawyer up before answering the City Council's questions. Council members had wanted to know the specifics about 17 marriage certificates.

"Now we've got two pastors who need lawyers," said Mayor Oscar Goodman, who grew increasingly frustrated with the pace of testimony throughout the day. "This is great."

The council took no action, and the hearing will resume at 1 p.m. Monday.

Local chapel owners have complained for years about what they describe as overly aggressive tactics used by the Garden of Love. Most of the alleged incidents happened outside the downtown Las Vegas Marriage Bureau, where handbillers badger couples, tempt them with rock-bottom ceremony prices and steer them toward waiting limousines.

The allegations against Garden of Love employees and its owners, Cheryl and Craig Luell, include: employees threatening other handbillers with violence, shoving people to the ground, kicking a rival in the head and even stabbing a competitor in the hand.

Cheryl Luell was also accused of paying homeless people to hurl obscenities at employees of other chapels.

Those reports, combined with licensing and other administrative problems, led city officials to notify the Garden of Love last month that the chapel's business licenses wouldn't be renewed.

Cheryl Luell, meanwhile, painted herself as the victim, both of other chapel owners and of her own success. Her attorney, Stephen Stein, said other chapels want to eliminate Garden of Love as a competitor.

"I believe what I see here is a conspiracy," said Stein. "Because of her outstanding abilities, certain competitors of hers would like to put her out of business."

Some council members initially were skeptical of the case against the Garden of Love.

Goodman and Councilman Steve Wolfson -- both attorneys -- noted that many of the charges were contained in signed statements that weren't notarized and were delivered anonymously to the city's Finance and Business Services department. It also wasn't clear who had prepared them.

Though the allegations were serious, only a handful made it into official reports, and Wolfson wondered if the actions were the chapel's fault or if the employee alone was to blame.

And if problems existed before the Garden of Love received its current license in 2005, Goodman wondered, why was it licensed?

City Attorney Brad Jerbic said council members should avoid blaming "one rogue employee on one rogue day."

"If you're looking for a smoking gun here, you're not going to get it," he said. "I would urge you to look at the pattern."

What the council wants to look at now, though, are the circumstances surrounding 17 marriages performed at the Garden of Love on April 7.

Las Vegas police investigated a fight involving a Garden of Love employee on that day -- an employee who was fired in short order, Cheryl Luell told the council.

She was in Houston that day for an Ultimate Fighting Championship match, she said. But it's a contested assertion, since her name appears as a witness on those marriage certificates.

She blamed the ministers who performed the weddings -- Phillip Williams and Jesus Diaz -- for improperly using her name. The witness line doesn't require a signature. On these certificates, her name was either stamped or handwritten.

It sets up a dilemma for Luell: If she witnessed the weddings, then she lied to the police about being out of town. If she didn't, then false marriage documents were filed with Clark County.

The ministers are independent contractors, but the Garden of Love could still be on the hook, much the same as a gentleman's club could be liable for the actions of one of its "independent contractor" dancers.

"You're responsible," said Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese to Luell. "It's your wedding chapel."

"How can I stop -- that would be like me being a minister and performing a wedding and saying Mayor Goodman was there," protested Luell.

"This is your chapel," reiterated Reese.

"I wasn't there!"

Luell did provide airplane and hotel documents to the council that she says will back up her story.

Goodman asked Las Vegas police to round up the two reverends. When they arrived, he advised them of their Miranda rights, noting they might end up being implicated in a criminal matter and that they couldn't be compelled to testify against themselves.

Both men decided to get lawyers.

Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@ reviewjournal.com or (702) 229-6435.