Bikini baristas busted for prostitution

Women reportedly charged up to $80 to strip down while fixing coffees

Sept. 25: Everett, Wash., police say
bikini baristas offered up more than
hot coffee.

EVERETT, Wash. - Five Washington state baristas charged customers to touch
their breasts and buttocks at an espresso stand where servers wear bikinis
to draw business, police said.
The five were charged Wednesday with prostitution. Charging money for that
kind of touching falls under the city's definition of prostitution.
The Everett Herald reports the women were charging up to $80 to strip down
while fixing lattes and mochas.


During a two-month investigation, detectives also saw the women lick
whipped cream off each other and pose naked for pictures at the Grab-n-Go
Espresso stand in Everett, about 30 miles north of Seattle.
Owner Bill Wheeler told KCPQ-TV employees sign a policy prohibiting the
kind of behavior alleged by police. He said anyone caught doing anything
illegal would be fired.
The women, ages 18 to 24, were not arrested, said Sgt. Robert Goetz. They
were expected to be in Municipal Court in a few weeks to answer
misdemeanor charges.
40 complaints
Police have received more than 40 complaints in the past year of women
exposing themselves at coffee stands. Goetz said the department
investigated Grab-n-Go because it had the most complaints.
"This was about alleged conduct, not about what the women were wearing,"
he said. "They could have been wearing parkas and if they continued to
conduct themselves that way, we still would have filed the criminal
charges."
Undercover detectives began posing as customers in mid-July.
During one visit, a barista allegedly told a detective that for $20, she
and another barista would give him a show. He paid and they bared their
breasts and pulled down their undergarments.
The women also charged customers to play "basketball," a game in which
customers threw wadded up money at the women, who caught the money in
their underwear, detectives said.
The city council is expected to decide next week whether to change the
city's lewd conduct ordinance to cover espresso stands.