Wednesday, June 16, 2004 | 11:15 a.m.
A misdemeanor prostitution case that could cost a Las Vegas strip club its tavern license now hinges on whether an exotic dancer at the club was coerced by undercover officers into offering sex for money.
Barbara Lewis, one of four strippers arrested in September and October of last year on prostitution charges and violations of the city erotic dance code, appeared in court Tuesday afternoon to fight charges she solicited sex from an undercover detective from the Metro Police Department's Vice Squad on Oct. 31.
At the time, Lewis was a dancer at the Las Vegas strip club Treasures, which now faces revocation of its license if Lewis or the three other strippers arrested on similar charges are found guilty.
At issue was whether the two-hour conversation she had with Metro Detective Leon DeSimone constituted entrapment. Her lawyers, Ross Goodman and Louis Palazzo, claim she never specifically agreed to have sex with DeSimone, who was working undercover at the club that night.
"This case screams reasonable doubt," Palazzo told the Municipal Judge George Assad. "They (the police department) tried to put a square peg into a round hole."
If Lewis clearly intended to have sex with DeSimone, it would not have taken two hours for her to agree, Goodman said.
"The testimony bore out that he was constantly asking her and Ms. Lewis repeatedly refused and redirected the detective's comments," he said.
Goodman is representing three of the four Treasures dancers arrested on prostitution charges.
Assad is expected to render a verdict at a hearing Aug. 30, when he will also decide if DeSimone's actions constituted entrapment.
The verdict could have far-reaching implications for Treasures, now operating on a temporary tavern license. Four members of the Las Vegas City Council are scheduled to review the club's performance at a hearing today. Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Ross Goodman's father, and Councilman Michael Mack are expected to abstain. Mack works as a publicist for Treasures.
Treasures owners Ali and Hassan Davari previously agreed with the council to forfeit the club's license if any dancers working at Treasures are found guilty.
Deputy City Attorney Martin Orsinelli argued that the case was far simpler.
"She played the game and she lost," Orsinelli said. "We don't have to go that far to prove (that Lewis took the offer)."
DeSimone and six other undercover vice officers, pretending to be out-of-town tourists, were at the club that night, part of a periodic check of local strip clubs, he said. The detective, who was working with fellow Vice Detective John Segura, talked with Lewis over the course of two hours, at which time the conversation turned sexual in nature.
DeSimone testified that Lewis asked him about the last time he had sex, which he told her was a week before. DeSimone then invited her to his room, saying he wanted to have sex, he said.
"I said, 'It's up to you,' " he testified. " 'I'll pay you $500.' "
Lewis had told DeSimone during the course of the conversation that she needed to make $500 that night, he said.
She then performed a lap dance for DeSimone, at which point she made contact with him in a way that violated the Las Vegas erotic dance code, DeSimone said.
When DeSimone offered her $600 -- which included extra money so she could make a required "tip-out" fee to leave the club -- she accepted, Orsinelli said.
Segura, who sat at the same table with DeSimone and Lewis, said he often had trouble hearing their conversation over the loud house music. But he was trained to listen for certain key phrases, he testified.
"He (DeSimone) was playing the role of a horny tourist," Segura said. "The conversation was gearing toward a sexual nature."
"She clearly went above and beyond (normal behavior)."
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