Lawsuit filed over strip search scam
By Charles Shumaker
STAFF WRITER
A Mount Carbon woman appears to be the victim of a nationwide scam by someone who claims to be a police officer then orders restaurant managers to perform a strip search on female employees.
A lawsuit filed Tuesday morning in Kanawha County Circuit Court revealed the case from August 2003 involving Sarah A. Wood, who worked at the Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar in Kanawha City.
A caller to the restaurant, who identified himself as a Charleston police officer, told shift manager Donald Alley that a female employee there had stolen a purse, according to Wood’s lawsuit.
The caller then told Alley to describe all female employees working at the restaurant at the time. After describing his female employees, including Wood, Alley allegedly was told to strip search her. She complied after being threatened with being sent to jail, her lawsuit alleges.
While inside a secluded room in the restaurant, the caller had Alley order Wood to strip while responding to orders with “yes, sir.” The caller remained on the line with Alley throughout the bogus strip search, according to the lawsuit.
“Ms. Wood was crying and sobbing and the caller forced Ms. Wood to say ‘thank you’ to Donald Alley,” the lawsuit alleges.
After bagging up Woods’ clothing, Alley left the room and left her standing naked for about 45 minutes. He then returned her clothing to her and she was allowed to leave the room.
Charleston Police were then called and took a report, but no one was charged in the incident, said Sgt. Brent Webster.
“We feel it was an act of stupidity,” Webster said. “You would think a manager or anybody in a management position would have a enough common sense or at least wait until they see a cop.”
The incident mirrors calls across the country that have caused numerous people, mostly restaurant employees, to be falsely strip-searched for drugs or money.
Some of the targeted businesses have been Applebee’s, Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King and Ruby Tuesday.
Other lawsuits have been filed nationwide and have included both male and female employees. In at least one case, a March 22 incident at a Taco Bell in Arizona, a customer was searched.
Investigators believe the caller has pulled the same stunt numerous times since 1999.
In another local incident, a female employee at the Hardee’s restaurant on Bigley Avenue went through the same type of strip search in 2001, Webster said.
In that case, no charges were ever brought.
Webster said the managers apparently had no part in the strip, but just made poor decisions and went along with the scam.
In Wood’s case, she is suing Alley and Applebee’s officials for numerous illegal acts including false imprisonment, assault and battery, and sexual harassment.
She and Kentucky lawyer Tracy D. Frye are asking a jury award an undisclosed amount in damages.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Send all complaints to: specialshawn@bellsouth.net
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