I'm going to need to see pics before I can determine if this girl really looked 20 or what. I can empathize with people who make honest mistakes about age but I am leaning toward these people being insufferable douches.

Careful trying to get those pics... Big Brother is watching.

She claimed being 19, but was unable to come up with a birth date...they knew.
(and lets face it, very few 12 year olds look like 19 year olds, and even if they do, they still communicate like 12 year olds)

Too bad the legislation doesn't provide for closure of the club, but I guess this is the right time to work on that.

Also good to hear she's living with her grandmother now, and is attending school.
Instead of blaming the club for not caring, the mom should sit down and think about the fact that her 12 year old for some reason ran away from home and was desperate enough to dance naked in a club

How could someone assume a 12-year-old is 19??

When I was 12, was as flat-chested as a boy - even the girls my age with boobs could never have passed for 19.

When anyone can't produce ID and can't give a birth date that's a sure sign that person isn't who they say they are!!


Nikky666, I wouldn't lump all parents together. There was a girl in my town who was the most rebellious person I've known; she ran away every fall and only returned when the police, working with her distraught parents, found her working as a liftie in Fernie or as a beergirl in Calgary. She came from the nicest family, and her siblings are all 'normal.'

I just can't always rush to blame the parents.

I think you are giving the average 19 year old waaaaay too much credit. ;)

I am not sticking up for this strip club in any way, I think they knew she was underage. But when I was 12, I was told all the time that people thought I was 19. Although, now that I am 25, people say I look like I am 12 lol.

Let's not forget that, "I love you because you are mature for your age" is the mating call of guys who like to date underage girls.

Strip clubs are essentially live porn, and hence you better be SURE that your dancers are over 18. Period. This is absolutely inexcusable for the club to have let ANYONE under 18 dance. They better see ID's, birth certificates, passports - whatever - to make sure she is at least 18.

They should be shut down and the owner should be tossed in the clink for underage stuff. They didn't try to make sure she was legal, they didn't care, and they will do it again. I mean, they had a 17 year old there, too!!

Shut 'em down, throw the legal book at them, and get that 12 year old some therapy!

I did pass for 18 when I was 13, but part of that was because I was talking to an older gentleman about a jazz musician. He was surprised to find out that a 13-year-old did like jazz festivals when I revealed my true age.

Of course, two years later, I was mistaken for 13 again. *grumble* (But then, I am a runt.)

That said, I don't buy the idea that a _normal_ 12-year-old could pass for 19, even if she's built. The lack of life experience would be a dead giveaway in even a brief conversation. If someone were really intelligent and/or well-traveled and/or really used to interacting with adults, it could happen... but even then I have my doubts.

They still should have made her produce ID.
If she did have a fake then it isn't the clubs fault but seriously wtf.

Diamonds Cabaret at 2444 Walnut Ridge St...Got it.

My wife, who is 36, barely passes for 20 now, when she was 20 she looked 12, when she was 12 she looked 9 and when she was a baby she looked like a fetus.

Girls are maturing at faster and faster rates these days. Hormones are seeping from our water bottles and making us super feminine.

I used to buy all the beer when I was 14 because I looked 18.

Now I'm not 14 anymore, don't buy the beer, but hope to still look 18 years younger than I am.

Seriously, this is so so wrong. A 12 year old should never even be thinking about being a stripper. What ever happened to girl scouts (hello, Bornbad), American Girl and mom and apple pie?

The people who coerced into this should have the book thrown at them.

I bet she's grounded as f**k right now.

That's what used to happen to me when I got caught with the beer and cigarettes.

When I was 13 I was already 5feet 8inches tall, I was also shapely. I would get hit on by men who were 20+. My Mom hated it. Of course, at 13 I thought it was cool. It was sooo wrong. This is waaay wrong. The owners should be tossed in jail. The whole thing makes me sick.

Just for the heck of it I Googled "underaged girl strippers" and came up with 190,000 links.

Guess it's not all that unusual. Yeah, I understand this girl was only 12.