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After a number of recent arrests, the owner of an Everett bikini barista franchise says his business is the target of a witch hunt. (AP Photo/file)

Everett Grab-N-Go owner claims business target of a witch hunt

BY Jamie Skorheim  on March 11, 2013 @ 10:38 am (Updated: 1:10 pm - 3/11/13 )

After a number of recent arrests, the owner of an Everett bikini barista franchise says his business is the target of a witch hunt.

"We're an easy mark," Grab-N-Go Espresso stand owner Bill Wheeler Jr. tells KIRO Radio's Ron & Don Show. He says going after their stands is a good way for the Everett police to get media attention. "That was their intention, that's what they got."

Everett police arrested four baristas at two Grab-N-Go locations in February. Police said the arrests were the result of a two-month undercover investigation following citizen complaints.

Investigators say at times no coffee would be sold but the women would be paid for exposing themselves in violation of the city's adult cabaret law.

Wheeler, the owner of the stand was then arrested last week, for investigation of felony sexual exploitation of a minor. One of the girls working at the stands, accused of exposing herself to customers, was apparently 16 years old.

Wheeler denies any wrongdoing and says he has very strict policies for his employees.

"The thing that upsets me the most is I do try to run a tight ship and I try to make sure everything is on the up and up. I have strict policies in place that if they do anything that gives my company an inappropriate image, they're terminated on the spot."

In regards to employing a 16-year-old, he says that is perfectly legal. "I had every legal right to have a minor work for me." But he says it's not really a typical thing, and generally requires some sort of special circumstance. "If a girl's 16, and she's going to college and lives on her own, I see that as kind of a special circumstance, especially when I have consent for them to work there from their legal guardian."

He further questions the police for soliciting a minor.

"If they would have coordinated with me I would have been more than willing to give them any information they wanted, but the solicitation of a minor I have a huge problem with that," says Wheeler. "That's like saying they were allowed to go over by a high school and solicit all the high schoolers over there for $20 to flash them real quick and then bust them for cabaret law then bust the teachers for pretty much pimping out the children of the school."

Wheeler says he wishes police would have indicated to him that they suspected a problem, and he would have been absolutely willing to assist them.

"When somebody's accused of something it's as simple as bringing it to my attention and I can review the [surveillance] footage and just terminate them on the spot, it's that simple," says Wheeler. "That's why I have a hard time dealing with this because they're trying to make it sound as if I'm running a brothel or something and I'm just running a business, an espresso stand."

This isn't the first legal trouble for Grab-N-Go. Several baristas were charged with prostitution back in 2009.

Wheeler Jr. has been running the Grab-N-Go franchise since 2010, after his father Bill Wheeler Sr. went missing. Wheeler's father has never been found after a trip to Las Vegas.

Wheeler says he is waiting to hear from his attorneys regarding the latest on the charges against him. He says the recent legal troubles have also made things difficult with his landlords, and he claims Everett PD has sent letters encouraging his landlords to evict him.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jamie Skorheim, MyNorthwest.com Editor
Whether it's floating on Green Lake, eating shrimp tacos at Agua Verde, or taking weekend drives out to the Cascades, she loves to enjoy the Pacific Northwest lifestyle as much as humanly possible.
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Comments (28)


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  • DonVigo wrote...
    Water seeks its own level?
    March 11, 2013 11:14 am
    Legality of the hiring practices aside, you would think the kind of person in the moral grey area that is this line of business would try to do as much as they could to make themselves present a responsible public image... I'm sorry, but if you're going to hire minors to wear next to nothing, only trouble can come of it. Legal or not, poor business practices aren't going to lead to success.
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  • Oly80 wrote...
    what about cheerleaders...
    March 11, 2013 11:37 am
    who do carwashes on weekends?

    the dude said he doesn't go out looking for 16 year olds. and even when they apply (remember they do have to apply for a job) he gets permission from guardians first. he knows that it's a "grey area" as you say. but, you know what? he's not doing anything wrong. and, as long as those girls keep their clothes on, nobody should have any reason to get all worked up.

    please. have you SEEN MTV lately?

    these coffee stands are practically like churches comparatively.

    except that MTV is targeted at tweens. coffee isn’t.

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  • DonVigo wrote...
    Personally, I tend to avoid those... Too.
    March 11, 2013 1:22 pm
    Call me strange, but I get creeped out by underage girls' budding sexuality. I'm not quite 30, but I don't want to see kids half naked, regardless of it being legal. Makes me feel like a skuzzball.

    Which is my point. It's a skuzzy business practice which was only bound to lead to trouble. When I was a hiring manager for two different companies in retail, we didn't hire minors. We COULD, legally, but given our scheduling it was more trouble than it was worth, so we just didn't do it. It was... Smart business. Again, my statement is simply that whomever the owner is was only inviting trouble by employing minors given the nature of the business.

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  • CascadeSasquatch wrote...
    DonVigo...
    March 11, 2013 2:49 pm
    admitting that you could legal hire minors and didn't do it is illegal discrimination. If you have someone who meets the qualifications discriminating by age, sex, religion, or sexual orientation is illegal. Given the nature of Grab n' Go, getting parental consent is probably smart. I find it interesting that they need to do a two month sting to figure this out. I bet they got coffee everyday.
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  • DonVigo wrote...
    Not going to bother to track down the RCW...
    March 11, 2013 3:13 pm
    ... But if two national companies have made it their policy not to hire minors due to scheduling concerns, even though the states in which they operate you legally may do so, I'm going to guess "being able to work after Midnight" counts as a qualification. Most minors have to abide by very stringent guidelines as to how many hours they can work, and when their shifts can start and end. It's VERY common to restrict the hiring of minors as such.

    Given the nature of Grab N Go being akin to the old Everett Showgirls; a Bikini-Only club; not hiring minors in the first place would have been the smart move. There's a lot of places who chose not to hire minors; it's nothing new.

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  • The Dude Abides wrote...
    Anyone else smell burning trousers?
    March 11, 2013 11:15 am
    This guy sounds like he's completely full of manure. If he was really running a tight ship, the offending girls would have already been fired. You think undercover cops are the only ones soliciting these broads? They probably get dozens of offers every day for this kind of thing. I bet if he was really checking the cameras frequently, he would have caught this before the cops needed to get involved. Also, even if he was against this (which I'm not entirely sure he is), he certainly didn't make himself clear on the issue. I'll bet that if he did, and he really did bring the hammer down on the girls that were doing these sorts of things, that the other girls would know that he means business and not test the waters. A hundred dollar tip to show your coochie isn't worth it if you get fired for it. I CALL SHENNANIGANS ON GRAB'N'GO!
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  • Oly80 wrote...
    " I bet if he was really checking the cameras frequently, he would have caught this before the cops needed to get involved."
    March 11, 2013 11:39 am
    why should he?

    he franchises these things out to people. they run them. the cameras are there for issues JUST LIKE THIS. he's not gonna monitor them all the time. it's THEIR shop to run!

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  • The Dude Abides wrote...
    Rebuttal
    March 11, 2013 1:44 pm
    It sounds like this guy IS the franchise owner for these stands. Even if he was the be-all-end-all owner and these particular franchises were not his, he still takes ownership being the CEO. The franchises are all run under one giant umbrella, and if it's his umbrella, then he should get rained on as well. The same is true of any business. The only difference is that if he's not the direct owner, then another person would be in trouble right along with him.
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  • Oly80 wrote...
    check and mate...
    March 11, 2013 11:30 am
    "If they would have coordinated with me I would have been more than willing to give them any information they wanted, but the solicitation of a minor I have a huge problem with that," says Wheeler.

    sorry. he's right. those cops were soliciting a minor when they did what they did, assuming that said 16 year old did give them a show. the cops probably could tell that she was under a certain age. You can’t break one law and then get the “show” and THEN cry foul on both the person you solicited AND the business owner. Maybe the girl wouldn’t have done it if they hadn’t ASKED HER TO. AGAIN, if she even did it in the first place, which we’re not seeing or hearing any proof of.

    i totally buy that this is a witch hunt. the cops are going after an "easy mark" as the guy says in the story. this IS a high profile story that the cops THINK puts them in the "good guy" light. but, it doesn't. they look creepy and a little sketchy in their execution of their "investigation."

    i don't buy it. no reason for a TWO MONTH "investigation" to find out if these girls did anything wrong. ESPECIALLY if, as the dude says, he HAS surveillance cameras!!! the cops went after him. pure and simple.

    that's some scary stuff.

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  • The Dude Abides wrote...
    Oly...
    March 11, 2013 2:05 pm

    How long has it been since you compared two teenage girls of similar ages? I sincerely doubt that you can tell the difference these days between a 16 year old girl and an 18-20 year old girl, at least not in a glance and a 2 minute business transaction. I'll bet that most people, including police, wouldn't think that someone would be stupid enough to hire a minor for such an adult job, regardless of how much permission her guardian gives her.

    I don't know if it would take a full 2 months to investigate this, but I would bet that the cops just wanted to be THOROUGH. They weren't just trying to bust the girls, they wanted the guy in charge. They needed to gather a lot of evidence, so that the sleazy lawyers who cater to these people can't just say it's a couple isolated incidents. These kinds of people are usually very slippery individuals, and if you don't present enough hard evidence to nail them to a wall, they'll just slip away unscatched.

    I'm not saying the girls are blame free, but you're kidding yourself if you think this guy doesn't know what's going on. Besides, any girl who randomly shows off her no-no parts to every tom, dick, and harry who asks, than she has some major issues.

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  • The Dude Abides wrote...
    Pardon my grammer on that last sentence...
    March 11, 2013 2:06 pm
    I just read that. It's bad. My apologies.
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  • Oly80 wrote...
    yeah...
    March 11, 2013 2:14 pm
    two months worth of going up to these stands and SOLICITING A MINOR!

    you seem so bent on defending the cops in this one, but you also go off about the "poor teen" who actually might not have done ANYTHING. you don't know her story. if you listened, that guy alludes that the teenager is in COLLEGE and living by herself. frankly it's NONE of your business where she works. she's of age to work. she's also 16. in Washington that's the age of consent. so, stop trying to play morality police to everyone. the COPS offered her money. that's BAD. no matter how you put it. they can't make a stink about having a teenager working there, but get NO FLAK for offering said teenager MONEY. it's just not possible. they are in the wrong.

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  • The Dude Abides wrote...
    Oly...
    March 11, 2013 3:26 pm

    There a number of different age of consent laws when it comes to working, at least in the state of Washington (I can't speak for other states). You can be old enough to work one job, and too young to work another. Danger factor, schedule requirements, and adult content are just some of the factors. Take McDonald's, for example. You can start working there as early as 15 (which I did), but you are not allowed to work at the grill or the fryers until you're 18, because it's considered too dangerous. You can't work in an adult video store or sell drinks until you're 18 because of the adult content involved. Just because this girl is old enough to work, doesn't mean she should be considered old enough to work at a place that makes you wear a bikini.

    I'm trying to defend the police because no one else seems willing to. I'm not saying that they were completely innocent in this whole ordeal, but I'm also not ready to join in on bashing them, either. We have no idea what went down during their investigation. For all we know, they didn't even have to ask. Maybe they just had to utter the secret code word, and *POOF*, there be b@@bies.

    Why is it, also, that you're so willing to jump to conclusions to defend this girl, but immediately ask for proof of her wrongdoing. She was ACCUSED of exposing herself to customers. Whether or not she did is left up to the evidence gathered. The fact that she was accused has got to mean that something was up.

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  • CH wrote...
    give the kops
    March 11, 2013 11:41 am
    lots to T&A[and weed too]. http://youtu.be/JVNSQ72wvlc
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  • mikey1 wrote...
    A waste of taxpayers money
    March 11, 2013 12:11 pm
    I'm sure the cops "JUST HATE WOMAN IN UNDERWARE" what a horrible job....I'll do the investigation for FREE!!!!
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  • Daddy Dennis wrote...
    A waste?
    March 11, 2013 12:28 pm
    Stopping people from exploiting teens for sexual oriented profit is a waste?

    These places are blights on society. What's next? A bikini line at the grocery store? Bikini day at Boeing? Your doctor treating you while wearing a thong and a pasty?

    The people who claim this is just harmless fun have no clue what goes into getting a woman to take her clothes off for strangers. Nobody does this unless there is a severe problem usually born from years of grooming and abuse. No healthy woman chooses to take her clothes off for strangers. None. And if you like these stands, you hate women and love abuse of women.

    Once again, thanks Everett PD. One less creep on the loose exploiting teenage girls due to your work.

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  • Oly80 wrote...
    a dream world...
    March 11, 2013 2:09 pm
    "A bikini line at the grocery store? Bikini day at Boeing? Your doctor treating you while wearing a thong and a pasty?"

    i don't need cops guiding my moral compass for me, thanks.

    "Stopping people from exploiting teens for sexual oriented profit is a waste?"

    if no crime is being committed? yes.

    that's not a cops job. please see my first comment again. and get off your high horse.

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  • Daddy Dennis wrote...
    So you agree
    March 11, 2013 4:51 pm
    "i don't need the cops guiding my moral compass for me, thanks."

    So you are saying that each person should set their own standard. The fact is if you are using 16 year old girls in sexual attire to lure men into your establishment, you DO need your compass adjusted in harsh and immediate ways.

    What you call a "high horse" I call the nature of every good dad I know. No dad wants their daughter in one of those places at all. They see those places as lowering the bar for ALL women, including their daughters.

    I find the people most vocal about defending these places are quite simply customers of the sex industry or their lawyers. Not many others take the time to get so vocal about their support for these types of things. Especially not fathers of girls.

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  • The Dude Abides wrote...
    Daddy Dennis...
    March 11, 2013 2:11 pm
    I agree with about 95% of what you say. However, I don't think it's as simple as the girls being exploited. I guarantee they have learned how to do some exploiting of their own. They figured out at a young age that if you're hot, guys will just throw money at you. If you think they are just poor, defenseless victims, think again.
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  • Daddy Dennis wrote...
    The Dude Abides
    March 11, 2013 5:10 pm
    Most of the workers who take their clothes off for a living have grown into this role from a life devoid of actual love from their families.

    This hurts people doing things the right way. Honest coffee houses where the workers are dressed just like the customers get hurt when these things pop up.

    I'm glad you liked 95% of it. It lets me know we agree on basic precepts of human dignity and a less crass society. Thanks for the reply, Dude.

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  • Daddy Dennis wrote...
    What the?
    March 11, 2013 12:17 pm
    This guy just compared himself to a teacher being arrested because one of their students did something wrong? Huh?

    This guy is profiting from the lowest desires of man. Do you think he wears all his clothes to work? I do. And I think most of the creeps spending money at these places wear their clothes to work as well.

    This dude uses half-naked teenagers to sell coffee. He's nothing like a teacher. He is a leecher and he had better wear all of his clothes when they lock him up.

    Thanks Everett Police. Good job.

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  • Oly80 wrote...
    dude.
    March 11, 2013 2:05 pm
    the cops were soliciting a MINOR. why is nobody bugged about that? the alleged crime wouldn't have allegedly happened IF they hadn't offered her cash first.

    honestly, THAT'S the most concerning thing about this case! but, it's kinda getting pushed aside for other issues.

    having young girls serve coffee isn't anything new. yes, they dress more provacativly. but, that doesn't mean they're breaking the law. or, that the dudes (any women?) who get coffee from these places are skuzzballs. admit it, guys, we all (most red blooded heteros) kinda had a thing for brittney spears when she was dressed up in the "hit me one more time" video.

    doesn't make us skuzzy.

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  • CascadeSasquatch wrote...
    So does that make dating prostitution
    March 11, 2013 3:01 pm
    I'm with Oly on this one I hate to say... If they are only working in skimpy clothes then they are hardly being exploited. Talk to these girls...I happen to know the FEMALE owner of one of these stands. The girls make a killing. If they weren't they wouldn't be taking the risk...Groomed. Yes by a society that tells them that sex sells, and that there are enough prudish people around to keep driving the price up. Tell me Mr Moral Daddy...If I go out and pay for dinner and drinks and then someone consenting and of age has sex with me, is that prostitution. Women have been using their sexuality for years...Get over yourself. Everett PD has a lot more to deal with than this kind of crap. They could have made an arrest the first time it happened. All they are doing is making themselves look creepy and stopping up the courts with charges that will never stick.
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  • Daddy Dennis wrote...
    Mr. Moral Daddy
    March 11, 2013 5:19 pm
    Shame on me for not wanting my daughters to parade around in their underwear for your amusement, right?

    How you live your life is your call. But when your life choices include using teenagers to lure guys into a stand for sex shows, your ethics rightfully deserve you a place behind bars.

    Consenting adults who engage in this type of trade are just giving in to their lower cravings at the expense of society and the dignity of mankind. This nation protects their right to do this to themselves and other consenting adults so long as it remains adult and within the framework of shielding kids from it.

    If you don't know the difference between someone using a 16 year old in a bikini to sell you coffee and a date... well... There's a reason you don't have kids, Squatch?

    I think anyone who supports these places should only voice their support while wearing their underwear. Cheering for half-naked workers while you are fully clothed is for hypocrites.

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  • DesertRez wrote...
    Yup
    March 11, 2013 1:09 pm
    If there were one of these coffee stand nearby I would stop in every morning and tell them how disgusting this is!
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  • The Dude Abides wrote...
    BTW, and I cannot stress this enough...
    March 11, 2013 2:17 pm
    The coffee at these bikini stands is gross and hugely overpriced. I almost feel like the girls should just be completely naked, that way I won't feel as akward when they totally rape my wallet. Do yourselves a favor, people. Go to a regular coffee stand, or better yet, make your coffee at home. Don't give these people the satisfaction of taking your hard-earned money for bad coffee.
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  • Daddy Dennis wrote...
    Thanks for the tip
    March 11, 2013 5:23 pm
    I have heard some have good coffee. I would not know. I spend my money at places where the workers are treated with a higher level of respect.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • longwayhome wrote...
    Free enterprise
    March 11, 2013 7:21 pm
    Don't like the salesperson, don't go there.
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