With its worn interior, dust-coated liquor collection and unobtrusive location off the Costa Mesa Freeway, Santa Ana strip club Mr. Yet the topless bar is at the center of scandals that have cost three Orange County police officers their jobs and hampered prosecution of some defendants. A second officer resigned after he was accused of concealing the tryst, law enforcement sources said. After Detective Jason Parsons and fellow officer Tom Collins left the Buena Park Police Department, Orange County prosecutors dismissed charges in some cases for which they were possible witnesses, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
The exact number of cases affected by their departure could not be determined. The same officer had previously been accused of misusing his authority by helping Mr. And a woman whose reckless driving left a year-old man dead ended up getting a light sentence for vehicular manslaughter after she cooperated in an internal police investigation. The trouble began in July , when Lisa Piho, a Mr. While prosecutors were deciding whether to file criminal charges, Piho said she went to the Buena Park police station to see if she could negotiate a deal.
Piho offered to work as a drug informant, hoping to win leniency if prosecuted for the traffic death, she said. According to Piho, Parsons and five friends from the department paid her a visit at Mr. When her shift ended, the officers gave her a ride home, opened a few beers and made a proposal, she alleged.
A few months later, in April , Parsons joined other friends from the department in Las Vegas for the annual Baker-to-Vegas relay, a popular desert run that attracts teams fielded by police agencies around the country. Thousands of officers travel to Las Vegas for the competition. That weekend, Johar arranged a complimentary suite at the Bellagio for Parsons and fellow officer Collins, Piho said. The suite came with a bar and a view of the Las Vegas Strip, she said. At one point, Collins caught them in the act, she said.
Neither Parsons nor Collins responded to repeated requests for comment. Johar, who is wanted on an arrest warrant for a drug-possession case, could not be reached for comment. Piho said Buena Park police internal-affairs investigators somehow learned about the Las Vegas trip, and within a few months, investigators were inquiring about her relationship with Parsons. After an initial denial, Collins told his superior what he knew about the Las Vegas trip, according to Piho and police sources.
