Lawyer Allegedly Threatened Stripper With Citizen’s Arrest For Refusing To Give Him More Than A Lap Dance
A retired lawyer wanted to place a stripper under citizen’s arrest when she declined to give him more than just a lap dance, according to police.
The incident, which may or may not give a new meaning to the term legal briefs, occurred on Wednesday evening at the Living Dolls strip club in Key West, Florida.
Located at the tip of the Florida Keys, about 90 miles from Cuba, Key West is, among other things, known for its nightlife and party atmosphere.
The attorney in question allegedly paid a stripper $100 for a private lap dance, and then coughed up $200 for additional services.
However, she refused to give him both the services or a refund of the $200, prompting a confrontation.
“Looks like this customer felt put out after a dancer wouldn’t put out,” the Florida Sun-Sentinel quipped.
The club apparently has an all-sales-are-final policy or the equivalent, if there is such a thing in connection with transactions at an adult or exotic entertainment venue of that nature.
The customer, identified as John L. Ciardi, 62, allegedly became upset and aggressive with both the dancer and the nightclub manager when learned that no refund was forthcoming.
“[The manager] told police [that] he threatened her [with] physical harm and destruction of the club’s property if his money wasn’t returned,” KeysInfonet reported.
The manager reportedly busted out a can of pepper spray and called 911.
Responding Key West cop Jesse Hammers, who encountered the lawyer outside the club, wrote that “Ciardi became enraged and began using vulgar language” upon being informed the officer wouldn’t arrest anyone for refusing to give back the cash.
Ciardi also accused the officer “of shielding the strip club and shirking his responsibilities as a law enforcement officer,” the Daily Mall explained. During the dialogue, he apparently claimed that he was a former prosecutor.
When Ciardi told the officer that he was going to head back into the club to effect a citizen’s arrest over the withheld cash, Hammers cautioned the bitter barrister that doing so could result in him being detained.
The disgruntled attorney claimed that he would return to the nightspot at some point in the future to exercise his legal rights by making a citizen’s arrest. “He stormed off with an unsatisfied attitude,” the cop added.
Neither the dancer nor the club manager opted to press charges against the unhappy customer who allegedly wanted a lap dance with benefits.
The Living Dolls Gentlemen’s Club website indicates that “if you are looking for the best Entertainment Key West has to offer, Living Dolls is the perfect location.”
According to the Daily Mail, Ciardi was disbarred by the state of Utah but still holds a law license in his home state of Massachusetts.
In general, a citizen’s arrest allows an ordinary person to make an arrest someone without a warrant in certain circumstances after immediately calling 911. “Florida is among many states that follows common law regarding citizen’s arrest. You can detain someone, until police arrive, if you witness a felony or have reasonable belief someone committed a felony,” the Florida Sun-Sentinel advised.
In an unrelated incident last year, a 20-year-old man was arrested after he allegedly urinated on a waitress at Rick’s bar in Key West.
Parenthetically, Key West was once the home of famed novelist Ernest Hemingway. He lived in Key West during the 1930s, writing To Have and To Have Not (later made into a movie starring Humphrey Bogart and future wife Lauren Bacall), as well as the nonfiction work The Green Hills of Africa, while living in what is now known as Hemingway House.
He left the island in 1937 to report on the Spanish Civil War, his experiences of which would inspire his novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, which also became a famous film starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman.
[Photo by Charlie Riedel/AP]
