The Washington Post
September 12, 1985, Thursday, Final Edition
Fairfax County Drops Case Against Stripper;
Woman Alleged Police Entrapment
BYLINE: By Patricia Davis, Washington Post Staff Writer
SECTION: Metro; D8
LENGTH: 336 words
Fairfax County prosecutors yesterday unexpectedly dropped a
charge of indecent exposure against a professional stripper who said she had
been entrapped by a group of county police officers.
"I don't know what this means," said George D.
Varoutsos, attorney for Linda Barnett, the stripper. "I guess it means you
can take your clothes off in a motel room."
Barnett, 33, was arrested on the misdemeanor charge May 8 at
the Tysons Corner Holiday Inn by Fairfax County police officers. The D.C.
resident, who runs a business called "Have Fun, Will Travel," has
said she went to the motel to entertain a group of men she believed were giving
a bachelor party.
"We do live, theatrical scenarios in the spirit of
burlesque," Barnett explained yesterday as she nervously awaited her court
appearance in Fairfax County General District Court. "In the course of a
20-minute show . . . the performer is naked for seven to eight minutes."
Barnett acknowledges that she performed for the group of eight
men, all of whom turned out to be police officers, but she steadfastly
maintains that she was entrapped.
She said the man who made the appointment said that the
bachelor party was for "kind of a wild bunch."
Barnett said she went to the motel, performed her routine
and was nude for seven to eight minutes.
The officers had rented two $88-a-night rooms at the motel
and furnished them with liquor and snacks to look like a party. After she
finished her performance, she said, the men "tried to get me to prostitute
myself." She said she refused and never got her $150 fee.
"The procedures leading up to her arrest were
correct," said police spokesman Warren R. Carmichael, adding that the
action that led to the arrest came from a citizen's complaint.
Under Virginia law, anyone who makes an obscene display of
his or her body in a public place or in any place where others are present, can
be found guilty of indecent exposure. The charge carries a maximum penalty of a
$1,000 fine and 12 months in jail.