Club operator, 3 dancers face charges

The four will be back in court next month.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Undercover officers who paid a $5 cover charge at an unlicensed adult cabaret on Market Street said they got an eyeful but customers got much more.
John M. Battaglia, the operator of DeJaVuok, 2810 Market St., and three pole dancers were issued court summonses around 12:30 a.m. Saturday. Battaglia, 58, of Rosewood Drive, Boardman, is charged with not having a cabaret permit and permitting prohibited conduct in a cabaret.
Battaglia and the women appeared for arraignment Monday in municipal court. They are due back Feb. 7 for a pretrial.
Reports show the women are charged with sexual conduct in a cabaret and dancing too close to patrons. They are:
UStacey E. Harvey, 18, of Wallace Street, New Castle.
UTiffany Marie Mesaros, 18, of Elm Street, Masury.
UHope Rager, 33, of Helena Avenue, Youngstown.
Lt. Rod Foley, head of the police department's vice squad, said Monday the city ordinance requires that cabaret dancers must remain on stage and stay 6six feet away from patrons. He said no touching is permitted.
Foley said a gentleman's club must not be within 500 feet of residential homes. DeJaVu, he said, is close to homes on Hylda Avenue.
What was observed
Foley said the women pole dancing Saturday at DeJaVu wore "fancy lingerie," frilly bras and thongs and had money in their garter belts.
The undercover officers said they saw Harvey touching herself and a patron put money in her garter as she danced on stage. When she left the stage, she rubbed her buttocks against a patron's groin area, police said.
Rager performed a lap dance on a bar patron seated on a bench, police said. She, too, had money in her garter, reports show.
The officers said they saw Mesaros dancing on the stage and in the bar area, where she rubbed her buttocks on several male patrons.
After clearing the bar of its patrons Saturday, police photographed the dancers' attire.
Foley said the undercover officers were sent to the bar in response to complaints about the business.