EVERETT, WA — A police investigation into an Everett bikini espresso stand is about politics, not prostitution, the owner of the stand said Thursday.
Bill Wheeler said Everett police are targeting Grab-n-Go Espresso because the city is trying to push through an anti-bikini stand statute. Wheeler owns at least four bikini espresso stands in Snohomish County.
Five baristas at Grab-n-Go were charged Wednesday with multiple counts of prostitution and violating the city's adult entertainment ordinance after a two-month undercover police investigation.
Investigators said they saw the women exposing themselves, performing lewd acts with whipped cream and posing naked for pictures in the Grab-n-Go at 8015 Broadway. No arrests have been made.
Police allegations that five baristas were charging up to $80 to strip down and flash customers while fixing lattes and mochas are untrue, Wheeler said.
“We're waiting to read the reports ourselves,” he said.
The women who work at the stands each signed an agreement guaranteeing that they will not behave inappropriately, Wheeler said. Employees who are caught breaking that agreement would immediately be placed on what Wheeler described as “administrative leave.”
Wheeler also told KING-5 news that police “trumped up these charges” after officers had romantically pursued the baristas and been rebuffed.
He declined to comment on whether the accused women are still working at the stand.
The women are expected to be arraigned in Everett Municipal Court in a few weeks.
The news that some women at the stand off Broadway might be selling more than coffee rocketed to national attention Thursday. By lunchtime, “Grab-n-Go Espresso” was No. 5 on Google's list of most popular search phrases in the U.S.
Gossip maven Perez Hilton gave it a mention on his Web site, adding, “You won't see that at your local Starbucks.”
All the attention didn't seem to be hurting sales Thursday, where baristas appeared to be doing a brisk business. Several men in trucks waited in line just after lunch for espresso and an eyeful of the baristas wearing bikinis — not the thongs and pasties they sported last week.
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