Copperfield's accuser charged with prostitution

The 23-year-old aspiring model who accused magician David Copperfield of rape is now facing misdemeanor charges of prostitution and filing a false report after she allegedly tried to solicit $2,000 for sex from a Mukilteo man and then accused him of molesting her when he refused.

The charges were filed Tuesday by the Bellevue City Prosecutor's Office against Lacey L. Carroll of Kirkland, who as Miss Kirkland was first runner-up in the 2010 Miss Washington USA pageant.

The man who said he was extorted, a 31-year-old Mukilteo businessman, told police he was acquainted with Carroll because she's a waitress at a Bellevue club he frequents. On Dec. 2, the pair rented a room at the Hotel Bellevue, where they engaged in a sex act, according to the man's statement to police. At one point, Carroll allegedly told him, "put $2,000 in my purse and you can have it all," the man told police.

When he refused, he said, she left the room. The man told police he went to the lobby and found Carroll telling hotel staff that she had been "taken advantage of." She later called Bellevue police to report the incident.

So did the man, who told dispatchers he thought he was about to be extorted, according to police reports.

The complaint against Carroll, filed in Bellevue District Court, alleges that she gave inconsistent stories to police and that her claims that she had blacked out "are not supported by ... hotel security videos, hotel staff statements" and the businessman.

Carroll's attorney, Becky Roe, said in an e-mail Tuesday that the "charges are unfounded and Ms. Carroll will be acquitted."

According to the complaint, Carroll told detectives that she and the man did not have sexual contact that entire evening until she woke up from a blackout to find him on top of her in a hotel room, her panties and stockings off.

However, another woman who was with Carroll and the man earlier in the evening told police she left the couple at the Lucky Strike, an upscale Bellevue bowling alley, because the sexual touching and " 'dirty' sexual conversation, which was going on between Carroll and [the man], began to 'freak' her out," wrote Bellevue police Detective Jerry Johnson.

Johnson said security video from two downtown Bellevue hotels where the couple stopped that night — the Hyatt and the Hotel Bellevue — also show the couple engaging in what Johnson described as "normal romantic behaviors," including kissing, fondling and hugging, the charges allege.

After police were called, Carroll was taken to Overlake Hospital Medical Center for a rape examination. However, she later said she was reluctant to release the results to police, according to police reports.

Her reason, she said, was the then-pending FBI investigation into her allegations that Copperfield had raped her on his private $50 million island in the Bahamas after meeting her when he performed in Kennewick in 2007.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle said it would not pursue the criminal case against Copperfield. The decision came after the U.S. Attorney's Office was informed of Carroll's arrest.

Federal prosecutors are not saying there is a link between their decision not to charge Copperfield and the Bellevue investigation.

Carroll filed a civil suit against Copperfield in U.S. District Court in Seattle last year. That suit is pending.

Copperfield has denied the charges, accusing Carroll of being a gold-digger. In a statement released Tuesday, Copperfield's Seattle lawyer, Angelo Calfo, said the charges filed against Carroll "vindicate Mr. Copperfield and confirm what he has said all along — this woman tried to extort money from him by making a false claim. Thankfully, authorities have now stepped in to stop her."

Roe, Carroll's attorney, said there were "serious questions" about the Bellevue investigation, including a reference in one of the files that a Bellevue detective contacted one of Copperfield's attorneys while the investigation was pending.

"Moreover, these charges will not distract from our focus on David Copperfield and his sophisticated scheme for targeting young women who attend his shows and luring them to his island under false pretenses," Roe wrote in her e-mail.

Bellevue City Prosecutor Susan Irwin said Carroll would be served with a summons and will make an appearance in Bellevue District Court within two or three weeks.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com