CASSOPOLIS — A former dancer at the Escape Reality strip club who has tested positive for HIV entered a guilty plea Friday in Cass County Circuit Court to five charges and a no-contest plea to one count of engaging in a sex act without informing her partner of her positive HIV status.

In addition to the plea accepted from Melissa "Star" Goodman, 23, Judge Michael Dodge accepted a no-contest plea from another former dancer at the club, 19-year-old Lauren Coombs, to conspiracy to engage in lewd and lascivious conduct and disorderly conduct. Coombs will be sentenced in District Court at a later date and Goodman will appear before Dodge for sentencing Aug. 7.

Cass Prosecutor Victor Fitz said he’ll recommend an 18-month cap on jail time for Goodman, a mother of three.

The dancers were performers at the club at 68502 Dailey Road near Edwardsburg. Between Feb. 11 and April 22, testified Detective Sgt. Dave Toxopeus, a Dowagiac police officer working with the Cass County Sheriff Office’s Narcotics Unit, the two dancers both performed sex acts on a confidential informant at the club.

In Coombs’ case, Toxopeus said the CI told him that, during lap dances, she’d expose her private body parts and perform a sex act on another dancer.

Regarding Goodman, Toxopeus said the CI told him she also provided him with lap dances during which she exposed private body parts and would stop just short of offering him the opportunity to engage in a sex act.

Under cross examination by Goodman’s attorney, Dale Blunier, Toxopeus agreed Goodman had told him she was intoxicated during the incidents and "didn’t really remember" all that occurred.

Goodman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to deliver or manufacture methamphtamine, delivery or manufacture of Ecstasy, conspiracy to deliver or manufacture cocaine, delivery or manufacture of less than 50 grams of cocaine and engaging in lewd and lascivious conduct. Other drug charges were dropped under the plea agreement, as were two other counts of failure to inform partners of her HIV.

Coombs’ agreement calls for the prosecution to drop two other counts of lewd and lascivious conduct and one count of conspiracy to keep a house of prostitution. Dodge warned her she still must visit the county Health Department for testing for sexually transmitted diseases prior to her sentencing.

Blunier told reporters two other dancers from the now-closed club, Vicki McClain, 28, and Erin Dickerson, 23, also have pleaded guilty to lewd and lascivious conduct. Like Coombs, they’ll be sentenced in District Court.

Also charged in the case are Katie McCreary, 22, and Brent Hanson, 58. McCreary has been charged with lewd and lascivious conduct and Hanson with conspiracy to keep a house of prostitution and solicitation.

The plea agreements with Coombs and Goodman require that they cooperate fully with the Prosecutor’s Office while the investigation continues.

Staff writer Lou Mumford:
lmumford@sbtinfo.com
(269) 687-3551