Cave Party Crackdown

Police arrested 20 people at Crystal City Underground during “UnderGround Knightmare: The Boogie Man Rises! – A Haunted BASS Festival,” according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and two people were taken to a local hospital with suspected overdoses.

Crystal City Underground is owned by Fiesta Corp., which was found guilty of operating without a permit and violating zoning laws following a party in April, the paper said. A woman fatally overdosed during the event.

Fiesta Corp. contends the county doesn’t have jurisdiction over activities in the cave. Fiesta was ordered to pay a $500 fine but plans to appeal.

Bob Kister, an attorney for the company, told the Post-Dispatch signs were posted during the recent event warning that drugs, illegal drinking and cigarettes were not permitted in the cave, and said Fiesta Corp. asked sheriff’s deputies to come.

“We invited them in and said if you see anybody doing anything wrong, get them out of here,” Kister said. “My client has no use for rule-breakers.”