Java Juggs Owner Wants $250,000 Back in Connection with Prostitution Raids

The owner of seven bikini barista stands raided in June has filed a lawsuit against Everett police to get back $250,000 that was seized in the raids, according to a report by The Everett Herald.

Carmela Panico, 51, was arrested for conspiracy to promote prostitution and permitting prostitution in June in connection with the raids. Criminal charges are still pending in the case.

The lawsuit was filed after Everett city officials told Panico that they planned to keep the $250,000. They say it came from criminal activity including money laundering, and that Panico is “living a lavish lifestyle” financed through “organized crime,” the Herald reports.

Panico was also arrested in 2011 on three counts of prostitution and one count of permitting prostitution after a lengthy police investigation of her Edmonds stand, Java Juggs Espresso. That stand, at the corner of Highway 99 and 212th Street Southwest, is one of the seven raided in June. 

Fifty-eight-year-old Darrell L. O'Neill of Everett, a 30-year sergeant with the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office, was also arrested in connection with the raids, on charges of conspiracy to promote prostitution and official misconduct. He has since resigned and has not yet been charged with a crime, according to the Herald.