Four Dancing Topless Get Boot, Arrested At Tavern One Is Friend Of Woman Acquitted Of Indecent Exposure Charge

Four Moscow women were arrested for trespassing in a college bar early Friday morning after dancing topless and then refusing to leave when asked.

Police were called to John’s Alley tavern shortly before closing time around 1:45 a.m. by bar employees who had asked several topless women to leave.

Several women were warned about taking their shirts off earlier in the evening by John’s Alley management, according to court records.

One of the women arrested, 21-year-old Sarah Scranton, is the roommate of Lori Graves, who was among three women acquitted of indecent exposure charges earlier this month for walking topless in Moscow last July.

Graves was topless on the city street outside John’s Alley on Friday, but was not arrested, because the city’s indecent exposure ordinance does not cover bare breasts.

Arrested along with Scranton Friday morning were Kristin Gustafson, 25, Deika Gericke, 26, and Amy Margozewitz, 25, of Moscow, according to the Latah County Sheriff’s office.

With a live band and a packed house, the temperature was warm in the small bar, prompting a number of men and women to take off their shirts, Scranton said.

“It wasn’t anything planned or a protest, it was just a bunch of people hanging out and having a good time,” she said. “It was hot in there.”

Scranton said she didn’t hear a warning, doesn’t remember being asked to leave and called the arrests “a power trip.”

Though no city ordinance prohibits women from going topless, Moscow City Attorney Randy Fife said a private establishment can ask customers to leave or refuse to serve anyone so long as they don’t discriminate.

Graves has gained attention in recent weeks because of her challenge to the city’s indecent exposure ordinance, and a battle with the City of Coeur d’Alene over alleged civil rights violations.

She was arrested last July while protesting the Aryan Nations parade in Coeur d’Alene after she refused to let police search her backpack.

On Dec. 1, a firebomb was thrown at Graves and Scranton’s home and a cross was burned in their yard. A threatening letter left at the Moscow home warned Graves to stay out of Coeur d’Alene.