Officials: Clerk arrested after stripper fees stolen

Fees that exotic dancers paid to Palm Beach County to perform in the adult entertainment industry were stripped from government coffers by a clerk who was supposed to process the payments, investigators say.

Anita Pedemey is accused of stealing the $75 fees from stripper licenses repeatedly — to the tune of $27,350. Pedemey, 54, of West Palm Beach, told investigators she needed the money at home. “There were a lot of bills,” she said, according to a sheriff’s office arrest report.

Pedemey was booked into Palm Beach County Jail on Thursday and later released on bond. She couldn’t be reached for comment.

A co-worker of Pedemey’s first noticed something wrong Nov. 15 when she told a supervisor that dancers were coming in and forms were being filled out but cash being collected by Pedemey was missing, the arrest report said.

The co-worker went to her supervisor who began investigating.

Two days later, Pedemey went to supervisors on her own and told them she messed up. “I’ve been taking money; stealing money from the Adult Entertainment licenses for about six months,” she said in the report. “My husband was spending a lot of money in Home Depot. I knew it was wrong.”

She told investigators she started taking the money when a receptionist got a new job and Pedemey became responsible for reporting the fees, the report said.

She estimated that she took $15,000 to $16,000 but an audit by the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office revealed more than $27,000 missing from Oct. 2013 to Nov. 2016, including money from a Victim Services Fund that Pedemey was responsible for.

She was placed on administrative leave and resigned from her position Dec. 8, officials said.

Pedemey faces grand theft, fraud and misconduct charges and was released from jail after posting $28,000 bond, records show.