A day after arrest, Stormy Daniels dances but doesn't touch

Andrew Welsh-Huggins, The Associated Press</span>
Published Friday, July 13, 2018 9:22AM EDT

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Stormy Daniels danced -- but she didn't touch -- at an Ohio strip club a day after her arrest at another club for interacting too closely with patrons that turned out to be undercover police officers.

Prosecutors on Thursday dropped charges against the porn star hours after she was accused of illegally rubbing undercover police officers' faces against her bare breasts during her performance.

Her attorney said she was "set up" in a Columbus police sting operation, calling it an "absurd use of law enforcement resources." Police said they routinely conduct such undercover operations.

The 39-year-old adult film star, who claims to have had sex with Donald Trump before he became president, was charged with three misdemeanours. She was released on US$6,000 bail around daybreak Thursday.

By early afternoon, prosecutors said they were dropping the case because Ohio's law against physical contact between strippers and customers applies only to someone who "regularly" performs at a club. In Daniels' case, it was her first appearance at Sirens in Columbus.

Columbus police chief Kim Jacobs said "one element of the law was missed in error."

"A mistake was made, and I accept full responsibility," she said.

Officers were well within their area of responsibility when making the arrests, she added. But she said the officers' motivations will be reviewed internally. Without providing details, she said unsubstantiated allegations about their motivations were circulating on social media.

Daniels' lawyer called for an investigation into the arrest, saying some of the officers had what appeared to be "very Pro-Trump" social media pages. The lawyer, Michael Avenatti, tweeted screenshots from what he claimed was the Facebook page of one officer with a pseudonym and asked people to help confirm it.

Daniels considered reappearing at Sirens but later opted for a different club, Vanity Gentlemen's Club. She performed there for about 20 minutes early Friday, baring her breasts but not physically interacting with any patrons. A host had announced: "No phones, no photography, no touching!"

About 100 patrons were in the club and threw dollar bills on her as she performed, partly covering the stage.

After her Sirens show, officers knocked on the door of her tour bus and took her into custody in an arrest that Avenatti said left her "traumatized and rattled."

She was booked under a 10-year-old state law known as the Community Defence Act, which says dancers at "sexually oriented" businesses are prohibited from touching customers and vice versa.

Police said two other dancers were arrested along with Daniels. Prosecutors will decide whether to pursue charges against those women.

Police said Daniels' arrest was part of a long-term human trafficking investigation of adult clubs. They said they have made numerous arrests under the no-touching law but did not immediately provide a number.

The police department "engages in these operations routinely," spokesman Sgt. Dean Worthington said.

Franklin County Municipal Court records show 23 similar cases this year, including the charges against Daniels, 14 last year and six the year before.

Daniels has said she had sex with Trump in 2006, when he was married. Trump has denied it. Before the election, she was paid $130,000 to stay silent in a deal handled by Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen. She is suing to invalidate the nondisclosure agreement.

Associated Press writers Michael Balsamo in Los Angeles and Catherine Lucey in Washington contributed to this report

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