New Lawsuits Filed Against Beaverton Strip Club Over Abuse of Minors

Almost four years after staff and patrons at a Beaverton strip club sexually abused at least one underaged girl, the legal consequences continue.

Today, two Portland law firms filed separate civil lawsuits in Washington County Circuit Court for at least $4 million in damages for each of two unnamed victims—who were 13 and 15 years old at the time—citing bodily injury and emotional damage.

The lawsuits, which were filed by attorney Joel Shapiro for one of the young women and Anthony Reiner and Janis Puracal for the other, follow previous legal actions taken concerning the exploitation of the teenage girls between September 2012 and September 2014 at Stars Cabaret & Steak House on Southwest Lombard Avenue in Beaverton.

In September 2014, a manager of Stars Cabaret was fined $150,000 and sentenced to 15 years in prison for aiding in the prostitution of the 13-year-old.

On March 31 of this year, Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian brought civil rights charges against Stars for unlawful sexual harassment of minors, stated his intent to fine the company $7,200 and, similar to today's civil lawsuits, sought damages of $4 million for each of the abused girls.

Today's cases "run parallel" with Avakian's charges, says Puracal.

Using the same body of evidence as Avakian, the first of today's lawsuits alleges that the then 15-year-old victim was compelled to dance nude, was subject to groping by customers and managers, and that the defendants effectively "promoted and profited from the live presentation of child pornography by employing, authorizing, compelling, inducing, and permitting [the victim], a minor, to engage in the display of sexually explicit conduct for the gratification of the Defendants and their customers, managers, and employees."

The second lawsuit brings the same charges on behalf the then-13-year-old victim, but with the additional allegation that she was forced to perform sex acts with customers and managers inside and outside of the club.

Both the lawsuits assert that the Stars staff knew or should have known the victims were minors, that they were vulnerable to sexual exploitation because of their age, and that "minor females are especially vulnerable to sexual exploitation by those in positions of money, power, or authority."

Buchanan Angeli Altschul & Sullivan LLP, the law firm representing Stars, declined to comment on the lawsuits.

Willamette Week