A coffee stand owner in Seattle has been charged on Thursday with promoting prostitution and money laundering after authorities discovered that she has been using her bikini-clad baristas to offer sexual activities in exchange for money.

Snohomish County prosecutors alleged that the owner of "Java Juggs", a bikini coffee shop found to have also been used as a sex den, earned more than $2 million in a span of three years by ordering her baristas to elicit sex acts for money. Charged with promoting prostitution and money laundering, Carmela Panico, 52, was a former nude dancer and purported owner of drive-thru brothels found throughout the county in the north of Seattle.     

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Investigators disclosed that Panico's baristas mostly made money on the tips, which may even reach hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the agreement with their customers. Police records reveal that the women could charge up to $14 for requests to bare their breasts or genitals. Consequently, bigger amounts could be charged for other sexual acts.

Panico was said to require the baristas to allot a certain amount of their earnings as her share, then they could keep the rest for themselves. "The sales goals were effectively rent that the girls paid to have the opportunity to perform lewd conduct or acts of prostitution," Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Bob Hendrix wrote in the charging document. Moreover, Panico purportedly fined the women when they failed to wear high heels during their shifts, appeared to not have a tan, or did not put on enough makeup.

"Panico's businesses were driven by prostitution and lewd behavior," Hendrix indicated in the report. However, the 52-year-old's lawyer said that his client no longer runs the coffee business. Panico is claimed to have left the coffee shop, as well as sold and leased some of her stands.

Apart from the aforementioned charges, Panico allegedly failed to state her full earnings to the Internal Revenue Service. She reportedly dodged this duty by dealing in huge amounts of cash. In a search conducted in Panico's house last year, authorities seized roughly $250,000.

The bikini coffee shop investigation also shed light on the possible involvement of Darrell O'Neill, a veteran sheriff's sergeant. Records show that O'Neill was allegedly helping Panico keep the authorities at bay by forewarning her and her workers of police raids and sexual favors in exchange. Following his arrest in the previous year, O'Neill resigned and pleaded not guilty during his arraignment. He is scheduled for trial in November.

TagsSeattle, Java Juggs, Snohomish County, BIkini, Carmela Panico, Bob Hendrix, Darrell O'Neill