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shadowcat

Atlanta suburb

Constitutional rights attorney says police trampled the 4th amendment rights of strippers

San Diego - The city of San Diego could be facing dozens of lawsuits in the wake of a work permit operation conducted on nearly 30 strippers at Cheetahs strip club in Kearny Mesa.

"They went in there and they just trampled over these women's civil rights," said constitutional rights attorney Dan Gilleon.

Gilleon was talking about an operation last Thursday at Cheetahs strip club where 10-police officers came into the club to check work permit cards of strippers. "Officers just come running in there, female officers running in with bullet proof vests on and with guns at their hips," Cheetahs manager Rich Buonantony told San Diego 6. Buonantony said the strippers were herded into a rear locker room, made to strip down to bras and panties, all to check and see if they had their work permit cards. Then, Buonantony said police took pictures of all of them against their will, pictures that had already been taken when the strippers applied for their work cards.

"What they did appears to me to be only justified if there was a criminal investigation, if they had probable cause to believe that there was some sort of crime that had occurred. Only then did they have the right to detain these women and degrade them by taking their photographs. Up until that point, they had no right to do what they did," Gilleon said.

Instead of an on camera interview, which San Diego 6 was told Tuesday we would be provided to ask questions about the card check operation, the police department did an about face Wednesday and opted instead to provide a statement. It said in part: "These inspections are conducted throughout the year and are not announced. Locations generating complaints are inspected more often. Ensuring regulatory compliance is part of the process while not impacting the club's regular working operation."

There were nearly 30-women detained that night. Gilleon said the city is now looking at nearly 30-lawsuits. "I don't know how the city's gonna afford this sort of thing anymore. It's just stupid for them to do this... They need to produce an explanation and indicate that there was an actual criminal investigation they were conducting. And short of that, I think they're in big trouble."

In light of pledges from newly appointed police chief Shelley Zimmerman to operate her department in a transparent manner, we reached out to the mayor's office for a comment on Wednesday. They got back to us and told us they're looking into the situation. You can count on San Diego 6 to continue to follow this story and demand answers