Stormy Daniels arrested, but charges dropped
14 July, 2018
Prosecutors on Thursday dropped charges against porn star Stormy Daniels just hours after she was arrested and accused of illegally rubbing undercover police officers’ faces against her bare breasts during a performance at a strip club.
Her attorney said she was “set up” in a Columbus police sting operation, calling it an “absurd use of law enforcement resources.” Police said they routinely conduct such undercover operations.
The 39-year-old adult film star, who claims to have had sex with Donald Trump before he became president, was charged with three misdemeanors, each punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine upon conviction. She was released on $6,000 bail around daybreak Thursday.
By early afternoon, prosecutors said they were dropping the case because Ohio’s law against physical contact between strippers and customers applies only to someone who “regularly” performs at a club. In Daniels’ case, it was her first appearance at Sirens in Columbus.
Columbus police chief Kim Jacobs said “one element of the law was missed in error.”
“A mistake was made, and I accept full responsibility,” she said.
Officers were well within their area of responsibility when making the arrests, she added.
But she said the officers’ motivations will be reviewed internally. Without providing details, she said unsubstantiated allegations about their motivations were circulating on social media.
Daniels’ lawyer called for an investigation into the arrest, saying some of the officers had what appeared to be “very Pro-Trump” social media pages. The lawyer, Michael Avenatti, tweeted screenshots from what he claimed was the Facebook page of one officer with a pseudonym and asked people to help confirm it.
Daniels has said she had sex with Trump in 2006, when he was married. Trump has denied it. Before the election, she was paid $130,000 to stay silent in a deal handled by Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen. She is suing to invalidate the nondisclosure agreement.
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