LAWYER LOST SOME OF HIS TREASURES AT TREASURES

Newly arrived from Oklahoma, lawyer is stripped of his Rolex and money at Houston strip club, then gets his ass dusted for complaining about it

When you’re an Okie, it’s best to stay away from a notorious Texas strip club full of whores and dopers.

MICHAEL VERNON: TREASURES CUSTOMER SAYS HE WAS RIPPED OFF, ASSAULTED BY STAFF
Maybe Vernon and his buddy should've just gone to the Olive Garden instead

By Craig Malisow

Houston Press Hair Balls
October 17, 2012

Last September, Michael Vernon had just moved from Oklahoma City, where he was a managing partner in a law firm, to Houston for a new job. He'd only been in town for a few hours when he and his buddy decided they wanted to see some boobs, and maybe help some young, tattooed women who were working their way through college, so they headed to Treasures.

But what should have been an enjoyable evening of cocktails and refined conversation turned ugly, according to a suit Vernon filed October 12, accusing Treasures staff of forging his signature on more than $8,000 worth of American Express charges, stealing his Rolex and then assaulting him when he objected to the alleged skullduggery.

The 31-year-old Sullivan is also suing American Express for not refunding charges signed with what his attorney, Matt Probus, says are not Vernon's signatures. (Vernon only admits to signing a $5,253 tab under duress, in order to get his credit card and driver's license back from the manager. Probus tells Hair Balls that his client never approved the $3,000-odd in "dancer authorization vouchers.")

We found the Rolex claim especially interesting, as, per the suit: "At one point in the evening, one of the dancers asked to see Vernon's watch. He took it off of his wrist and handed it to her. Another dancer then distracted him while the dancer with his watch walked off." (This would never happen to Hair Balls, as we only wear a Swatch.)

Treasures attorney Albert Van Huff denied the allegations, and further stated that it's not unusual for customers, in the light of the next day (or month), to regret spending more money than they anticipated, and then trumping up some false claims in order to get a refund. He also said that American Express's arbitration provision will probably result in the case being tossed out and referred to arbitration.

Of course, there's always the matter of the assault -- Probus says Vernon filed a police report shortly after the assault. Probus also said he's asked to review security camera footage, which he says will show that Vernon never got a lap dance. (Probus also says that Vernon and his friend were only at the club for 90-120 minutes and couldn't have gotten the number of dances reflected in the vouchers).

"It's physically impossible to run up the charges he got," Probus told us.

If this alleged incident occurred in October, we have no doubt that there'd be enough security camera footage to review, since Harris County District Judge Alexandra Smoots-Hogan ordered the club to install more cameras (and hire more security guards) on September 11.

Treasures is getting a lot of attention lately. The County Attorney's office believes the club is a festering whore-den (that's our patent-pending contraction of "whorehouse" and "drug den").

It'll be interesting to see if there's any truth to Vernon's claims, or if this is just one of those oh-my-God-what-did-I-do-last-night moments Van Huff was talking about. We shall stay on it.