A look back on Stormy Daniels arrest at a Columbus strip club
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Former President Donald Trump was found guilty Thursday of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, was arrested in a Columbus strip club in 2018, months after she publicly said she had an affair with Trump, who was president at the time.
A look at Clifford's stormy visit to Columbus:
Porn star arrested
Columbus police in the now-disbanded vice unit arrested Clifford on July 11, 2018, shortly after her performance at Sirens Gentlemen's Club, 6190 Cleveland Ave. on the Northeast Side (since closed). Clifford and two other women were accused of illegally touching patrons of the club, sparking a national story.
Within hours, City Attorney Zach Klein dropped the charges against Clifford, and later the other two, after determining the law requires the defendant to be a regular performer at the club and to touch patrons instead of undercover police officers.
All three women sued, alleging wrongful arrest. Columbus police did an internal investigation along with the FBI into why the officers were there.
Officers fired
Two officers were fired, and two supervisors were suspended as a result of Clifford’s arrest and investigations following: Steven Rosser, a 19-year veteran, and Whitney Lancaster, a 32-year veteran.
Lt. Ronald Kimmerling was suspended for six weeks and Sgt. Scott Soha was suspended for three weeks.
Stripper sues ...
Clifford sought $2 million in her lawsuit against the city of Columbus and Columbus police. Clifford accused vice officers Shana Keckley, Whitney Lancaster, Mary Praither and Steven Rosser of violating her civil rights by arresting her.
The lawsuit also alleged that the officers who arrested her were politically motivated. It stated that two of the officers were registered Republicans and one was a known Trump supporter. It also cited emails from Keckley and posts on social media.
... and wins settlement
An internal Columbus police investigation into Daniels found that there was no political motivation, but departmental changes were filed over failure to supervise properly and failure to act within division policy.
The city settled the case out of court for $450,000 about a year after Clifford's arrest. The city of Columbus settled with the two other women for a total of $150,000 in late 2018.
@donovanhunt9
DHunt@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Stormy Daniels arrest: A look back at the Columbus strip club incident
