Authorities dropped the charges against adult film star Stormy Daniels Thursday after she was taken into custody during a performance at a strip club in Ohio, which her lawyer called a “politically motivated” setup.
Daniels, who made headlines earlier this year over her claims of an alleged affair with President Donald Trump, was arrested Wednesday night while performing at the Sirens Gentlemen’s Club in Columbus after she allegedly allowed “a customer to touch her while on stage,” her attorney, Michael Avenatti, said via Twitter early Thursday morning.
“Just [received] word that my client @StormyDaniels was arrested in Columbus, Ohio [while] performing the same act she has performed across the nation at nearly a hundred strip clubs,” Avenatti tweeted. “This was a setup [and] politically motivated. It reeks of desperation. We will fight all bogus charges.”
ABC News reached out to Avenatti, who declined to elaborate beyond his tweets.
Daniels was charged with three violations of illegal sexual orientation activity in a sexually oriented business. Those charges were dropped Thursday afternoon, according to court documents.
Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, had allegedly touched some of the patrons’ breasts and allowed them to touch her, according to court documents obtained by ABC Columbus affiliate WSYX-TV. She had allegedly performed the same act with several officers who approached the stage and forced one officer’s head into her bare chest.
Columbus police arrested Daniels, 39, along with two other dancers at the club.
Daniels, who was semi-nude during the performance, was initially charged with three misdemeanor counts of knowingly touching a patron at a “sexually oriented business,” according to the court documents. Ohio law prohibits anyone who “regularly appears nude or semi-nude on the premises of a sexually oriented business” to “knowingly touch” a patron or another employee who is not a member of their immediate family, nor the clothing of that individual, while on the premises of that establishment — and vice versa.
