There are certain products and services that you must use extremely good judgement on before buying because they are exceptionally difficult to return and get your money back. Things such as drugs, black market babies and lap dances come to mind. For these situations I suggest “Caveat emptor,” which is Latin for “Let the buyer beware.” A former lawyer should have utilized a little more caution when he handed over money and asked for illegal services from a stripper.
John L. Ciardi was having a grand time at the Living Dolls strip club in Key West, Florida. According to police officers, Ciardi paid a stripper $100 for a private dance. He then gave Marianny Benitez $200 more and expected her to give him more than a lap dance. The 62-year-old man requested to get his dick wet, but the exotic dancer declined his offer. Benitez end up keeping Ciardi’s money.
“Benitez said Ciardi became upset and requested a refund,” Officer Jesse Hammers wrote in his report. Ciardi became “became aggressive,” causing Benitez to go into the lobby and notify her manager, Marisa Hernandez.
Ciardi was asked to leave, but he threatened physical harm on Hernandez and destruction of the club’s property if his money wasn’t returned. Hernandez pointed a can of pepper spray at Ciardi and called the Key West Police Department.
Ciardi, a 62-year-old former lawyer from Peabody, Massachusetts, Ciardi told officer Hammers several times that he was a prosecutor. It’s not clear if Ciardi was a prosecutor, but he was allegedly hit with drug charges in 2012 and was disbarred in Utah in 2014.
Ciardi then told Hammers he was going back inside the strip club to make a “citizen’s arrest.” Hammers warned Ciardi that if he did, “he would be placed in handcuffs.”
Ciardi reportedly vowed to return “at a later date to make a citizen’s arrest,” Hammers wrote in his report.
Ciardi eventually ‘stormed off with an unsatisfied attitude,’ according to the report.
I imagine that Ciardi did his own pole dancing that night. Caveat emptor motherfucker.