EVERETT — A risque coffee stand that was once the target of an undercover prostitution sting was shutdown Thursday — but not because of its scantily clad baristas.
Carol’s Grab N’ Go espresso stand at 8015 Broadway, formerly known as Grab N’ Go Espresso, was repossessed because its former owner never fully paid for the stand.
Two civil attorneys, accompanied by Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies, showed up Thursday morning to close down the hut. A barista wearing thigh-high black leather boots, lacy black lingerie and a garter threw on a winter coat and pulled some items out of the chartreuse-colored stand.
Workmen unhooked the electricity and plumbing and the building was loaded onto a truck and taken away.
Other Grab N’ Go stands were not part of the seizure.
Bill Wheeler, the former owner of the Grab N’ Go, never fully paid off a $68,196 promissory note for this one stand, said Seattle attorney Sara Kim.
Her client, businesswoman Jenny Kim, never wanted to sell the stand to Wheeler in the first place. Another party bought the stand and then immediately assigned the promissory note to Wheeler, Sara Kim said.
With interest and attorney fees, Wheeler’s company, BDW Services Inc., now owes more than $80,000, according to court documents.
“I was kind of surprised,” Sara Kim said. “People around here seemed happy to see it go.”
Attorney Larry Glosser, who was helping Sara Kim, said the stand would be stored in a secure place and then auctioned off.
“The Grab N’ Go is now Grab N’ Gone,” he said.
Grab N’ Go nabbed the attention of local and national media in 2009 after five baristas were accused of engaging in prostitution at the stand following a two-month undercover police investigation.
Wheeler later disappeared in May 2010 during a trip to Las Vegas. His burned out Toyota pickup truck was later found abandoned at popular dump site in the California high desert.
Shortly after his disappearance, his wife Carol Wheeler took over the stand on Broadway. The business license lists that hut as operating under the name Carol’s Grab N’ Go.
The lawsuit is filed against BDW Services — which was doing business first as Grab N’ Go Espresso — as well as Bill Wheeler and Wheeler’s wife.
His son, Bill Wheeler Jr., started at least one other bikini hut on Everett Mall Way. The business license for that stand lists the name of it as Grab N’ Go Bikini Hut and it is not part of the lawsuit or connected to the repossessed stand on Broadway.
Sara Kim said Carol Wheeler called her while the hut was being hauled away and offered $5,000 to stop.
“She did contact me today to negotiate,” the attorney said. “She just didn’t have enough to stop this process.”
Reporter Debra Smith: 425-339-3197 or dsmith@heraldnet.com
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