LAFAYETTE, La. (AP) - The last two Desperado’s employees charged in the federal drug and prostitution case have indicated they’ll plead guilty.
Officials say that leaves only strip club owner James Panos and his wife, Jennifer, to stand trial in May on drug distribution and racketeering charges.
The Advocate reports (https://bit.ly/1gdKUQd ) Acquila Shanete Latigue and Gerald Cormier said in documents they’ll change the not guilty pleas they made last year. Cormier’s hearing is scheduled for March 20. The date of Latigue’s change of plea has not been determined.
The pair follow former Desperado’s Gentlemen’s Cabaret dancer Heike Slattery, who on Thursday pleaded guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises.
Latigue, Cormier and Slattery joined four other former employees, who all pleaded guilty to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises. The seven defendants had faced additional charges handed down in a superseding indictment in 2013.
The eight defendants will be sentenced after the Panoses’ trial in May.
Federal prosecutors allege prolific prostitution and drug distribution was a daily and nightly occurrence at the club, where women danced nude or almost nude. Some of the defendants admitted at their plea hearings that they sold illegal drugs and engaged in prostitution in the club’s VIP room, where customers were issued condoms.
James Panos’ attorney, Kevin Stockstill, said he expected James and Jennifer Panos’ codefendants to plead guilty before the trial.
“It happens in federal cases where there are a number of defendants,” Stockstill said.
James Panos is charged with one count each of racketeering, conspiracy to distribute drugs, selling defaced firearms and possession of firearms by a prohibited person.
Jennifer Panos is charged with one count each of conspiracy to distribute drugs and racketeering.
The trial is scheduled for May 25.
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Information from: The Advocate, https://theadvocate.com
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