SPRINGFIELD - After allegedly refusing to pay for four lap dances at a Springfield strip club, Joshua Morales didn't get a fifth.
"I'm not paying for s---," Morales, 25, of Springfield, announced when police arrived at the Fifth Alarm Lounge on April 24, according to the arrest report.
Around 9 p.m., the bar's manager called 911 to report that Morales had just received $100 worth of lap dances, at $25 each, and was refusing to pay, the report said.
When police told him to pay up, Morales replied, "You can't make me pay." When police insisted, Morales began yelling and spouting obscenities -- all of which disrupted the mood in the lap dance room, the report said.
His behavior "caused five to eight patrons to stop what they were doing and business could not be conducted due to the loud commotion that Mr. Morales (was) causing," the report said.
Growing more agitated, Morales tried to push his way past the officers and out of the room, the report said. "I don't have to talk to you anymore. I'm out," he said.
A few minutes later, he was in a cruiser, being transported to police headquarters. There, he was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
'That's why cops get shot,' strip club patron tells police The tirade continued for several minutes before a second officer told Matos to leave. When he refused, he was arrested and charged with trespassing and disorderly conduct.
The next morning, he pleaded not guilty to both charges in Springfield District Court. Under a plea agreement approved by Judge Michele Ouimet-Rooke, the charges were reduced to civil infractions and Morales agreed to pay fines to settle each one.
The total amount was $150, or six lap dances worth.
Not a brilliant strategy. :(