Club XS owner Joel Weinstein

State liquor-control agents have accused the owner of North York's Club XS nightclub with selling liquor without a license.

The state's Bureau of Liquor Enforcement filed the charges Thursday against Joel R. Weinstein, 64, of Rathton Road in Spring Garden Township, as well as against Club XS itself.

He and the club are charged with the misdemeanor of selling liquor without a license.

Attempts Tuesday morning to reach Weinstein and his attorney, L.C. Heim, were unsuccessful.

An answering machine message at Club XS states it is permanently closed.

Sgt. Jeffrey Rineer, LCE district office commander, said his agency alleges that although the club purported to give away alcohol for free to get around losing its liquor license, it charged a cover at the door for patrons to get in.

"Our assertion is that charging the cover is actually part of the sale of liquor and brewed beverages," he said.

The charges are the culmination of an undercover investigation that began Feb. 1 and ended with an Aug. 8 raid of the club, during which state LCE agents seized all the club's liquor, Rineer said.

The background: Last February, Commonwealth Court overturned a York County Common Pleas Court decision that the Liquor Control Board erred when, in October 2010, it refused to renew the liquor license of the 36 W. 11th Ave. club.

The LCB's decision notes Club XS failed to "take effective remedial measures to abate the continued disruption and unmanageable all-age nights, which culminated in the mayhem and shooting on June 11, 2010."

In response to that ruling, Weinstein announced the club would remain open and he would give away alcohol for free.

Not long after the Aug. 8 raid of his club, Weinstein announced he is selling the 11,000-square-foot club, which he said can hold about 1,000 people.

Weinstein opened the club about seven years ago.

-- Staff writer Liz Evans Scolforo can also be reached at levans@yorkdispatch.com.