UPDATE: The Foxy Lady temporarily closed after 3 employees were arrested for prostitution
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Foxy Lady strip club closed, at least for now, after 3 employees were arrested for selling sex. This bust followed a weeks long investigation by Providence Police.
Police say 3 different undercover cops were offered sex by 3 different female employees at the club Tuesday night. For that reason and some others, police say it’s pretty obvious management was in on it but at the Board of Licenses meeting Wednesday, one of the managers told ABC 6 News they had no clue this was going on.
It won’t be business as usual at the Foxy Lady tonight after Providence Police made a prostitution bust.
“This is a prostitution parlor, we’re not going to allow it,” says Major David Lapatin.
The Board of Licenses temporarily shut down the club after a detective explained the week’s long investigation at the meeting.
“I think the threshold for upholding an emergency closure is very low. Anytime the police department and the command staff states that there’s a threat to public safety, I take that very seriously,” says Dylan Conley, the chair of the Board of Licenses.
According to the undercover cops, Lindsay Hoffman, Melissa McNeely and Neish Rivera all told the same story, using the same lines, offering sexual favors all for $300 which would get them to the VIP room for “anything they want.”
“Everything about that last night showed a routine that this has probably been happening for a long time,” says Lapatin.
This investigation started after a woman who works there reported she’d been sexually assaulted about a month ago by a man at the strip club. That man has not been charged.
“That made us say what is going on, why is she in the position in the first place to be sexually assaulted,” says Lapatin.
Tuesday night all 3 women gave some of the money to another employee in the club. Police say the bosses had to be in on it but the managers claim that’s not how they run their business and they did not know what was happening.
“That’s totally false on our behalf. The city has procedures, we followed every procedure, the club has policy, we followed every policy,” says Richard Angell, one of the managers.
There is another Board of Licenses meeting tomorrow night where they’ll be given more evidence and decide if it will stay temporarily closed. A permanent decision will take more time.
Meanwhile, those 3 women will face a judge next week.
© WLNE/ABC 6 2018
