NEWS

Ex-Platinum Plus Greenville employee not guilty

Romando Dixson
rdixson@greenvillenews.com

A Greenville County jury unanimously determined a former Platinum Plus employee was not guilty of charges in connection with a yearlong, undercover investigation into prostitution at the strip club.

Aimee Joy Harms, 21, was charged last year with prostitution and exposure of private parts in a lewd and lascivious manner. She broke down in tears when the court revealed she was not guilty on both charges.

"I believed in my innocence all along," Harms told The Greenville News. "I would never do that."

Investigators charged 16 Platinum Plus workers with various offenses, including prostitution, aiding or abetting prostitution, and exposure of private parts in a lewd and lascivious manner. Authorities alleged exotic dancers exposed their genitals at the club and, in some cases, performed sex acts on each other in front of undercover officers in the club's Champagne Room. The officers spent $26,000 in drug seizure money at the club during the investigation.

Many of the dancers accepted plea deals in which they pleaded guilty to one charge while others were dropped. Several cases are pending.

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Harms' case was the first to go to trial in General Sessions court. She said she refused to plead guilty and switched attorneys during the process. William Bouton was her attorney during the two-day trial.

"I took this to him and I said, 'This is humiliating, but this is what happened,'" Harms said. "And he said, 'I think we have a strong case, Aimee. Let's do this."

Prosecutors alleged Harms, a shot girl, saw an opportunity to make additional money in the Champagne Room because the undercover officers were spending so much money. Assistant Solicitor Wanda Adams said Harms approached one of the undercover officers and recruited a dancer to go to the Champagne Room with them.

"Most of us would realize that when you move beyond the main floor, where the regular dancing is going on, if you're going to pay that kind of money to go to a separate room, something special is going to happen," Adams said during her closing argument, adding that Harms received at least $300 and danced in the laps of the officers.

Bouton countered that a simulated sex act is neither illegal nor prostitution.

"It's fake," he told the jury.

Bouton argued prosecutors did not provide any evidence of their allegations through video, audio or an independent witness. He also challenged the credibility of the officers, who consumed alcohol during their investigation at the strip club.

"Alcohol affects your mind. It affects your judgment, and it affects your memory," he said.

Aimee Joy Harms