MiddletownJournal.com

HAMILTON — Hamilton police say topless dancers giving $5 lap dances ran afoul of the city's adult entertainment ordinances at a bar owned by a former candidate for the Butler County commission.

Police arrested five women at V's Nightclub at 1483 Millville Ave. in Hamilton early Tuesday morning, Feb. 24.

The arrests followed complaints the bar was hosting an erotic dance performance, according to Public Affairs Officer Rich Burkhardt.

Burkhardt said undercover officers observed as many as 100 people in the bar, where roughly 14 chairs were arranged in a semicircle around the dancers. The dancers wore G-strings, police say; two were topless and the others wore pasties. Police say they were touching the patrons in a sexual manner.

Police say customer Eryka Huckins, a 20-year-old from Cincinnati, exposed her breasts and allowed dancers to touch them. Huckins was arrested and charged with violating the city's adult entertainment ordinances.

Rawnica Dillingham — who ran in the Republican primary for the county commission last year — owns and manages the bar with her husband, Joe Ruscigno.

Dillingham was issued a misdemeanor summons for not having a performance area clearly defined and separate from the patrons area.

Arrested were Ann Behnfeldt, 38, from Pettisville; Mary Leonard, 23, from Toledo; Dawn Saunders, 29, from Huntington, Ind.; and Amanda Moore, 27, from Perrysburg. They are charged with violating the city's adult business regulations, all of which are first-degree misdemeanors. Moore and Saunders received additional related misdemeanor citations.

The women are scheduled for arraignment in Hamilton Municipal Court on March 13. They are free from the Butler County Jail on bond. The charges against the dancers and Dillingham are first-degree misdemeanors punishable by up to 180 days in jail.