COLUMBUS, Ohio – Two employees of Sirens Gentlemen’s Club, the strip club where Stormy Daniels (AKA Stephanie Clifford) was arrested in error back in July, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in which they claim they were arrested as a “cover” for what they assert was a politically-motivated arrest of Daniels.
The two employees are Miranda Panda, who works as a cocktail waitress, and Brittany Walters, a dancer. The lawsuit names several officers from the Columbus Police Vice Unit and two “John or Mary Doe” defendants whose identities are not known the plaintiffs at this time.
The complaint seeks “compensatory and punitive damages, declaratory, injunctive, and equitable relief, costs, and attorneys’ fees for the false arrest, malicious prosecution, civil conspiracy, and defamation, and, alternatively, abuse of process, in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and/or the common law of the State of Ohio.”
After describing the named officers as registered Republicans and “strong supporters of President Trump” and quoting extensively from a pro-Trump Facebook post allegedly authored by one of the officers under a pseudonymous account, the complaint alleges the officers “entered into a conspiracy to arrest Ms. Clifford at her performance in Columbus as an act of revenge for her statements made about President Trump.”
The complaint also alleges that the officers “determined between themselves in advance of Ms. Clifford’s performance at Sirens that she would be arrested and charged with a violation of R.C. 2907.40.”
According to the complaint, the officers also had a contingency plan in place, just in case Daniels “did not meet all of the elements of R.C. 2907.40,” they would “either fabricate the offense’s elements or deliberately omit elements on any criminal complaint alleged against her.”
At this point in the planning of the arrest, the complaint alleges, the officers concocted a “cover” for their politically-motivated arrest of Daniels.
“Defendant Officers also determined in advance they would arrest at least two other individuals working at Sirens on July 11 for a violation of R.C. 2907.40 as a cover for their arrest of Ms. Clifford,” the plaintiffs allege in their complaint. “Specifically, Defendant Officers believed that, by arresting at least two other employees, they could deny that they arrested Ms. Clifford for political reasons.”
In their complaint, the plaintiffs also dispute the notion they initiated physical contact with the officers as such contact was described at the time of their arrest.
At one point, while she was checking to see if the officers wanted to order more drinks, Panda alleges the defendant officers “lewdly commented on Ms. Panda’s breasts, comparing the respective sizes between Ms. Panda’s and one of the female officer’s breasts.”
After one of the officers compared Panda’s body to another server working a nearby table (“You have the tits, and she has the ass”), Panda “jokingly grabbed” the other server’s butt, according to the complaint.
As for Walters, the complaint alleges that while she was on stage “several of the Defendant Officers sat in the seats by the stage and began waving money in Ms. Walters’ face and reaching out to initiate contact with Ms. Walters.”
While one of the defendant officers, Mary Praither, would later claim that Walters had bent down from the stage and put her face between Praither’s breasts in an area beneath her areole, the complaint disputes this claim.
“Due to the height of the stage, it would have been physically impossible for Ms. Walters to bend down far enough to put her face between Defendant Praither’s breasts in an area below Defendant’s areole,” the complaint states.
The complaint also disputes the description of either plaintiff as “nude or seminude” (a condition required for them to be charged with a crime under the relevant statute) during their interactions with the officers.
“At the time Defendant Keckley filled out the complaint against Ms. Panda she was aware that at all times material Ms. Panda had been wearing her cocktail waitress uniform and was not nude or seminude at the time she touched another employee,” the complaint states. “In order to arrest Ms. Panda for the violation, Defendant Keckley knowingly and intentionally made the false statement in a sworn criminal complaint that Ms. Panda was nude or seminude at the time she touched her co-worker.”
As for Praither, the complaint alleges she was “aware that at all times material Ms. Walters had been wearing a body suit and regular underwear (not a G-String) and was not nude or seminude at the time she allegedly touched Defendant Praither in the physically impossible manner which Ms. Praither described.”
The charges against Panda and Walters, like those filed against Daniels, were dismissed shortly after the arrest. In their complaint, however, the plaintiffs argue that the damage to their reputations had already been done prior the charges being dismissed.
In addition to having their names and mugshots published after the arrest, a tweet from the Columbus Police Division’s official Twitter account suggested the two women were engaged in human trafficking and prostitution.
“As part of a long-term investigation into allegations of human trafficking, prostitution, along with other vice related violations, Columbus Police arrested three individuals from Club Sirens at 6190 Cleveland Ave., during the early morning hours of July 12, 2018,” said the statement posted to Twitter.
In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs describe that statement as “a total fabrication.”
“Defendant Officers were not at Sirens investigating any human trafficking, prostitution, or other vice related violations,” the complaint states, “nor were Ms. Walters or Ms. Panda arrests in any way related to such an ‘investigation.’”
The plaintiffs are seeking declaratory judgment finding the defendants have “through false arrest and/or malicious prosecution, violated Plaintiffs’ Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, conspired against Plaintiffs to violate those rights, abused process, and/or defamed them” as well as an order for over $25,000 in compensatory damages, more than $25,000 in punitive damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, costs, attorneys’ fees and any other relief the court may deem appropriate.
Neither the law firm representing Panda and Walters nor the city of Columbus has responded to requests for comment on the case.
As reported by the Associated Press late last month, the FBI has taken over an investigation into the Columbus Police Division’s vice squad. The investigation stems from both the arrest of Daniels and an incident in which vice detective Andrew Mitchell shot an alleged prostitute inside a police vehicle, after she allegedly stabbed him in the hand. Mitchell was already under criminal investigation at the time of the shooting, in connection with a citizen complaint previously filed against him.
