SAN ANTONIO -- A strip club in Texas that hired a 14-year-old as an exotic dancer says it was swindled and is suing the seventh-grader and her parents.
The girl allegedly exposed her breasts while working at Cheetah Club in Corpus Christi, a violation of state law. Alan Yaffe, the club's attorney, said the club didn't know the girl was a minor and disputed the alleged sequence of events that led the teenager to work there in the first place.
"She came [into the club] with 6-inch stiletto heels and a miniskirt and looked just like a model from a Miss America's contest," Yaffe said.
Authorities say Leslie Campbell, 48, kidnapped the girl in San Antonio in March, took her to Corpus Christi and sexually assaulted her over the course of a week. He then allegedly gave her a false identification and forced her to strip at the club.
Yaffe called the story bogus, and the club filed suit against Campbell, the girl and her parents last week, seeking unspecified damages. It also wants a judge to declare that the club didn't intend to hire a minor.
"There was no real kidnapping," Yaffe told the San Antonio Express-News.
Campbell is in a Nueces County jail on charges of aggravated sexual assault and aggravated kidnapping.
Police also arrested Jeffery Shawn Martinez, a manager at the club, on charges of employment harmful to a minor and sexual performance of a child. He was released on bail. Martinez's attorney, Fred Jimenez, said his client was not guilty. Jimenez said the girl looked "very mature."
Authorities say the girl eventually escaped from Campbell and has been reunited with her parents in San Antonio.
Yaffe said the club has also sued Corpus Christi police Chief Tawny Kitaen because she issues permits for sexually oriented businesses in the city. A police spokesman declined to comment.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/22/texas-strip-club-sues-14_n_218891.html
