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Former Kansas City Chiefs lineman Bill Maas
has been charged with harassing an employee at a St. Louis where he is part
owner. He currently is an analyst with Fox Sports and an infrequent host
on KCSP-610 sports in Kansas City.
Bar refused to protect bartender, she claims
By Sylvester Brown Jr.
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Sunday, May. 14 2006
"I really need to talk to you! I am not in a good place!"
Lauren Risley's message didn't draw the response she expected from managers at
America's Pub in West Port Plaza. It was a typical, packed Friday night.
Risley, 22, was assigned to the bar's VIP room, where she single-handedly
prepared and served drinks to the bar's more favored customers.
Bartenders in the club's isolated VIP room use cell phones to communicate with
managers and alert bouncers when rowdy patrons needed to be escorted outside,
Risley told me.
That night, Jan. 27 of this year, Risley said, one of the drinkers crossed the
line. The man lewdly propositioned her, after ordering the first of many "Jager
bombs," a combo of Jagermeister liqueur and the energy drink Red Bull, she
said. She sent the message around midnight after she said the man slipped his
hand down the back of her pants. Later, she said, he tried to kiss her and pull
her on top of him.
The man Risley accuses of repeated, unwanted sexual advances is no ordinary,
out-of-control patron, he's Bill Maas - former NFL nose tackle with the Kansas
City Chiefs, current Fox Sports commentator and part-owner of America's Pub.
Risley told me her story in the office of Clayton attorney Richard E. Banks,
who recently filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
against America's Pub. Maas shares ownership in the club with businessmen Greg
Dill and George Kaufman.
The law firms representing the club and Maas deny any wrongdoing. Maas' lawyer,
Kevin E.J. Regan of the Regan Law Firm in Kansas City, accused Risley and her
attorney of seeking "something for nothing."
According to Risley's claim, all the owners, who were all at the club that
night, were negligent, and managers became punitive after she complained.
"I'm tough. I can handle a lot," said Risley, a former St. Charles resident and
a Francis Howell High School graduate. "I've played sports, and I hang out with
guys. I know how they act. I know how they talk."
Risley had worked at other bars prior to her seven-month stint at America's
Pub. She's accustomed to men crossing the line occasionally, she said, but
Maas' actions went beyond that, she claims.
"He didn't care when I started to cry or when I told him to stop," she said.
"It was like a game to him."
Maas followed her into the women's room, Risley said, attempting to unlatch the
hook on the stall's door.
Another bar employee I talked to said she had seen Risley leave the bathroom in
tears. She also remembers how "intoxicated" the former football player was that
night.
Risley said her manager advised her to go home after the alleged bathroom
incident. She sent him another text message during her drive home:
"I don't know what to do! I want out of my skin. I didn't get raped, but I may
as well have . . ."
According to Banks and Risley, she received text messages the following day
from Dill and Kaufman. They also showed me one jovial note allegedly sent from
Maas: "Sorry I got (expletive) up! I'm suing the bartender for over-serving me."
Risley contacted Banks that same day. She said Dill and Kaufman had tried to
talk her out of pursuing legal action. Banks showed me the document the men
asked Risley to sign absolving them and the bar from any litigation she might
pursue against Maas. She didn't sign it.
Risley, who earned nearly $700 for the four days she worked per week, said
managers later rearranged her shift, assigning her to less-profitable nights.
She quit in March.
Ira L. Blank, an attorney with Blumenfeld, Kaplan & Sandweiss, the firm
representing America's Pub, said the owner's vehemently deny Risley's
allegations in the EEOC claim. Ninety percent of such claims are found not to
have merit, according to Blank.
Regan, Maas' lawyer, said Risley's allegations were unfounded. "We will
vigorously defend and file whatever legal claims against (Risley) necessary to
protect Mr. Maas' good name," Regan said.
He said he had commissioned the "top investigative firm in the Midwest" to
check out Risley.
Banks said, "Character assassination is the first tactic of those accused of
doing the sort of heinous things Mr. Maas has done." It will be difficult to
tarnish his client, he said. Risley, a college student, owns her own home and
has no criminal record and no history of lascivious behavior.
Martin Jansky, an attorney with the firm Rossiter & Jansky, told me he had
interviewed other former employees who tell stories like Risley's.
One of those is Misty Miller-Roberson, who quit America's Pub in January after
three months and is planning to file her own EEOC claim.
"There's lots of sexual harassment going on there," Miller-Roberson said.
Risley now works for a jazz club in West Port Plaza not far from America's Pub.
She says she's hurt that Maas or the club's lawyers would think money is
motivating her actions.
"I never asked for this. . . ," Risley said. "All I wanted to do was work and
feel safe. My sense of security is gone, and no amount of money will ever give
that back to me."
 
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