Stormy Daniels’ Arrest At An Ohio Strip Club To Be Probed By FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will be investigating the Ohio police unit that, among other things, arrested Donald Trump accuser Stormy Daniels at a Columbus strip club earlier this year.
As Huffington Post reports, Columbus’ Vice Squad, which has since been suspended by Columbus Police Chief Kim Jacobs, has been the subject of a variety of complaints, from an arrest that may have been politically motivated to outright murder (or at the very least, excessive force, depending on whom you ask). And Jacobs would like the FBI to take a look.
On August 23, for example, Vice Squad detective Andrew Mitchell was involved in an excessive-force incident involving a prostitute. As WCMH-TV (Columbus) reports, Donna Castleberry, an alleged prostitute, had been arrested by Mitchell and placed in the back of his unmarked squad car. Castleberry somehow produced a knife and stabbed Mitchell in the hand; Mitchell shot Castleberry dead. He has since been assigned to desk duty, pending an investigation.
Further, according to WCHM, an unidentified “whistleblower” in the adult entertainment industry claims to have given the city attorney, the police chief, and now the feds a packet of documents that supposedly contains damning information against the Vice Squad, including alleged incidents of extortion and selective enforcement.
Columbus Police searching for driver involved in fatal hit-skip https://t.co/gQKjyDZVYu pic.twitter.com/HESoI2q1rL
— WSYX ABC 6 (@wsyx6) October 1, 2018
However, by far the most high-profile and well-publicized case involving Columbus’ Vice Squad happened in July of this year.
As the Inquisitr reported at the time, Donald Trump accuser Stormy Daniels (real name: Stephanie Marie Clifford) and two other women, identified as Miranda Panda (real name: Miranda Glass) and Brittany Walters, were performing at Siren’s in Columbus. Also there were undercover cops, including some female officers, from the Vice Squad.
Daniels was busted when she allegedly touched one or more of the officers. That’s because Ohio law prohibits performers at “adult-oriented” establishments from touching anyone who is not a close relative. Stormy later said that she didn’t know that there was a such a law.
However, Daniels was later released on a technicality. That’s because the way the law is written only forbids “regular performers” from touching patrons, and Daniels was a guest performer. It is not clear if Panda and Walters are also regular performers; charges against them were later dropped as well, although it’s not clear why.
BREAKING: A Federal lawsuit was filed against Columbus Police vice officers for alleged false arrests of two women arrested with Stormy Daniels last July. https://t.co/5OlnVf4LVQ pic.twitter.com/N1A9PXL9hP
— WSYX ABC 6 (@wsyx6) October 2, 2018
Jacobs later suggested that the arrest was politically motivated, and promised an investigation.
The FBI investigation and internal investigation aren’t the only problems facing the Columbus Vice Squad; as WSYX-TV (Columbus) reports, Panda and Walters filed a federal lawsuit against the Vice Squad on Tuesday.
