Police say Spayse Studios operated as an unlicensed sexually oriented business where patrons paid a cover fee.
DALLAS, TX — A northwest Dallas studio owner accused of running an unlicensed sexually oriented business says he will fight charges filed after police raided Spayse Studios in April and detained dozens of people.
Israel Luna, 53, faces charges that include promotion of prostitution, operating a sexually oriented business without a license and two felony drug counts. Dallas police say the case grew out of a Safe Streets Initiative investigation focused on prostitution, human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Luna has denied wrongdoing in public comments after the raid.
Police said detectives served a search warrant April 17 at a warehouse in the 2500 block of Manana Drive, near Harry Hines Boulevard. The site was identified in reports as Spayse Studios, a production and event space in an industrial area of northwest Dallas. Detectives said patrons could pay about $35 to enter the business and engage in sexual contact, which police said violated the city’s sexually oriented business ordinance. The department said 48 people were detained during the search. “The Dallas Police Department is committed to enforcing all laws and ordinances related to prostitution, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation to keep everyone safe in Dallas,” police said in a statement after the raid.
Officers arrested Luna and Marc Tuton, 42, who police identified as a manager or event promoter. Police said Tuton was charged with operating a sexually oriented business without a license. The other people detained at the scene were released without charges after officers checked for active warrants, according to police accounts. Investigators said they seized 227 grams of marijuana, 671 grams of psilocybin mushrooms and 11,034.7 grams of THC hash oil. Police also reported finding more than $11,000 in cash, computers, hard drives, other electronics, pleasure devices and a cargo van that investigators believe was used in producing pornography. Police have not said that all people detained were suspects, and the full evidence list has not been tested in court.
The search warrant was signed April 16, one day before the raid, by Judge Jeffrey Rosenfield, according to a copy described in local reporting. The warrant sought evidence tied to aggravated promotion of prostitution, public lewdness and violations involving legal hours of operation for a sexually oriented business. It also authorized officers to search for records, receipts, ledgers, electronic devices, narcotics, firearms, ammunition, employee records and a 2000 Dodge cargo van. Dallas Voice reported that documents provided to the publication included a certificate of occupancy for “commercial amusement (inside),” a zoning use connected in city code to some businesses that must also meet sexually oriented business licensing rules. Whether that certificate met the city’s licensing requirements in this case remains disputed.
Luna, a filmmaker and studio owner, has said he did not operate an illegal business and plans to contest the allegations. In an interview reported by WFAA, Luna said he had hosted similar events more than once a month and argued that the activity at the studio was not illegal. The police version differs sharply from Luna’s account. Arrest documents described by news outlets say investigators alleged that events were promoted online and that people engaged in sex while being filmed. Police also said patrons paid a cover fee. Luna’s defense appears likely to focus on what the studio was licensed to do, what the cover charge paid for and whether prosecutors can prove prostitution or illegal business operation beyond the presence of adult events.
The case also lands in a city with a long-running fight over sexually oriented business rules. Dallas requires sexually oriented businesses to be licensed and places limits on where and when they may operate. City rules require those businesses to close between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. The City Council approved tighter hours in 2022 after police officials argued late-night operations were linked to crime around some adult businesses. Business owners and workers have challenged parts of the rules, saying the limits hurt legal businesses and workers. Courts have allowed the city to keep enforcing the late-hours rule while litigation has continued. The Spayse Studios case is separate, but it centers on the same basic question of when an adult-oriented space becomes a regulated business under city law.
Police listed the investigation under case number 049524-2026. Luna’s charges include possession of a controlled substance over 400 grams, a first-degree felony; promotion of prostitution, a third-degree felony; possession of marijuana between four ounces and five pounds, a state jail felony; and operating a sexually oriented business without a license, a Class A misdemeanor. Tuton faces the misdemeanor business-license charge. No trial date or final case outcome has been announced in the public reports reviewed. The charges are accusations, and both men are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.
The raid drew attention in Dallas because Spayse Studios was known in parts of the local LGBTQ community as an event and production space. Dallas Voice reported that people close to the venue questioned the police framing of the case and said the events involved consenting adults. Police have not announced human trafficking charges in the public summaries of the case, though they said the raid was part of a broader effort to target trafficking and sexual exploitation. That gap between the department’s public safety language and the charges filed has become a central point of public debate. For now, the case remains a criminal prosecution built around licensing, drug possession and alleged promotion of prostitution.
The next major step will come through Dallas County court proceedings, where prosecutors must present evidence supporting each charge and defense attorneys can challenge the warrant, the search and the legal theory behind the arrests. As of May 21, Luna says he plans to fight the charges, while Dallas police say the investigation remains tied to their Safe Streets Initiative.
Author note: Last updated May 21, 2026.