Bikini barista debate still simmers

Pierce County prosecutors are reviewing whether to file their first indecent-exposure charges against a bikini barista.

They could make a decision on the issue next week.

The consideration of the case is taking place as five Everett baristas face prostitution charges for allegedly offering to sell customers more than coffee. And cities and counties around the state are studying, revising or tightening regulations.

The local case involves a 19-year-old woman cited for the simple misdemeanor last fall after somebody called 911 to complain about public nudity.

The woman was walking to an outside storage shed at Bikini Bottom Espresso II on South Hill on Oct. 7 when the passerby, a woman with a child in her car, called deputies.

The barista’s breasts were bare, save for X-shaped pasties covering her nipples, according to a Pierce County sheriff’s report.

A deputy cited her for unlawful public exposure under the county code and confiscated the pasties after she put on a bikini top, the report says.

County attorneys expect to decide early next week whether to charge the woman under statutes prohibiting exposure of certain body parts, including bare breasts, Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said Friday.

Neither the barista nor the owners of the stand involved could be reached for comment. The News Tribune is not naming the woman because she has not been charged with a crime.

COMMUNITIES DIVIDED

The steamy issue of scantily clad coffee sellers divides residents in many communities. Some see baristas dressed in bikinis, lingerie or other skimpy outfits as an expression of freedom and American entrepreneurship. Others complain the so-called “sexpresso” stands degrade the women who serve the coffee and erode community morals.

Pierce County prosecutors have reviewed possible cases involving barista nudity before, but they have not filed charges, Lindquist said. There have been no reports of baristas charged with indecent exposure, lewd conduct or prostitution in other South Sound cities, including Tacoma, Lacey and Lakewood.

Bonney Lake hasn’t had any problems since it strengthened its municipal code last year after complaints about “bare-istas” there, City Administrator Don Morrison said this week.

“They’re still wearing bikinis, but they’re in compliance with the ordinance, which pretty much follows case law on what’s obscene or indecent,” he said.

BARISTAS FACE TRIAL

The Everett cases refocused the spotlight on a controversy that appeared to cool as cities, counties and bikini barista stand owners reached apparent understandings of what was and wasn’t lawful.

The five baristas there face trial in the next few weeks on allegations they charged up to $80 to let customers fondle or photograph them while they put on erotic shows.

In recent actions, Lynwood updated laws to require that employees wear more than pasties and a G-string, Snohomish County toughened its regulations and Yakima went to work on similar laws, The Associated Press reported this month.

In Pierce County, where there are stands with names such as Hot Chick A Latte, Smokin’ Hot Espresso and Baristas Gone Wild, officials believe they’ve already got adequate laws to regulate servers who bare too much.

Sheriff’s deputies investigated some stands for possible unlawful conduct and sent letters of warning to reported violators when they first began popping up, Pierce County Councilwoman Barbara Gelman said.

She hasn’t received many complaints recently, she added.

“The county code is very clear about the fact there should be no exposure, no nudity or anything like that,” Gelman said.

County Council members met with a number of community groups to hear their concerns and then talked to sheriff’s officials and prosecutors about enforcing existing laws, council chairman Roger Bush said.

Deputies will investigate reports of indecent exposure, lewd acts or prostitution and monitor behavior as they can, but their priorities are more serious crimes, Sheriff Paul Pastor said in an e-mailed reply to questions from The News Tribune.

Then he added this personal note: “I don’t like the statements that ‘bikini barista’ stands make. I think they are a reflection of the ‘dumbing down of America.’ I doubt that any of us would brag about the presence of these businesses when we discuss what is good and strong about our community.”

CITIZENS WANT ENFORCEMENT

Spanaway electrical contractor Roger Daines understands the sheriff has a limited staff, but he and other members of a group called the Concerned Citizens Coalition of Pierce County want the code enforced as aggressively as possible.

He’d also like the laws “strengthened and clarified,” he said.

Many of the stands have glass walls that essentially put skimpily clad women in fish-bowl view, some of them on routes traveled by kids going to and from school, Daines said.

“There may be a place for these for people who want it, but we don’t believe they should be in places where children can see,” he added.

Some baristas and espresso stand owners where servers wear bikinis, skimpy costumes or lingerie applaud cities such as Everett for arresting what appear to be blatant law-breakers.

“I say, ‘Right on,’” said Kendra Harrington, co-owner of Peek-A-Brew in Bonney Lake. People who violate the law “should be out of the industry,” she said.

Barista Cayden Gaston, 20, at Smokin’ Hot Espresso in Purdy, takes this view: “I think if people don’t want to see it, don’t come.” Dressed in a fuschia-colored bikini and displaying a bejeweled belly button, she spoke as she steamed milk.

She does think there is a limit to how little baristas should wear.

“I don’t like pasties,” she said. “Keep it covered, is what I say.”

Kris Sherman: 253-597-8659

kris.sherman@thenewstribune.com