A strip club customer was hit in the face with cash by a worker at the establishment in Port St. Lucie, Florida, on February 27 after an argument about tipping.
The incident happened at a topless club called Body Talk where the victim, identified as 24-year-old John McKelvey, told responding officers the women at the club were upset he had not handed them tips, the Smoking Gun reported February 29.
He also claimed there were no signs indicating tipping was mandatory, and an arrest affidavit reportedly said the workers at the club were angry he had not thrown money at them.
The man apparently had had too many drinks at the time. He allegedly boasted he had a lot of money but did not want to use it to tip the employees at the club.
A worker, identified as 28-year-old Victoria Jones whose role at the club remains unclear, alleged the man was drunk, exhibiting rude behavior, and verbally insulting her fellow workers.
“Jones, cops say, said she ‘picked up a small stack of money and threw it towards the victim,’ who was struck in the face with the legal tender. She claimed the cash was tossed in a ‘non-aggressive manner,’ adding that, ‘This is a place where money is thrown everywhere,'” the Smoking Gun report stated.
An image shows the young woman involved in the case:
Strip club worker charged with hitting customer with a ‘stack’ of cash when he refused to tip dancers: affidavit https://t.co/9w7svj5dPw pic.twitter.com/LLxc4mfEG2
— New York Post (@nypost) March 5, 2024
Surveillance footage reportedly shows the moment Jones and McKelvey got into a verbal altercation before the young woman allegedly slapped him with the cash then performed what was referred to as an “open hand strike.”
Jones was arrested for battery and was released from jail once she posted a $500 bond.
In April, police arrested four individuals once a strip club in Orlando, Florida, allegedly employed an underage girl as a dancer. The club’s operators were each charged with one count of human trafficking for commercial sexual activity of a child under 18 years old, Breitbart News reported at the time.
It is important to note that victims of sex trafficking, including women, men, and minors, are often recruited to be employees in strip clubs across America, per the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
Although victims may start out as hostesses, servers, or dancers, they are later forced to provide commercial sex.
“Strip clubs are designed to provide the space and environment in which buyers may purchase commercial sex,” the site read.
“Victims of sex trafficking in strip clubs must adhere to extensive, pre-determined schedules and are frequently moved between multiple clubs. Commercial sex sometimes takes place in the bathroom, VIP, or lap dance rooms, or offsite in hotels or buyer’s homes,” it noted.
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