Foxhole owner Thomas George arrested in Richland County
- The owner of two strip clubs in Muskingum and Coshocton Counties was arrested in Mansfield.
- Thomas L. George, 54, is suspected in a stabbing in Richland County. He was arrested last week.
- Authorities say George stabbed a man on Sept. 27 at a motel after he burglarized George's home.
- George is named in a lawsuit pending in federal court after his dancers protested outside a church.
MANSFIELD — A strip club owner who is named in a federal lawsuit involving topless protests at a Warsaw church was arrested last week in Richland County in connection with a stabbing.
Thomas L. George, who owns a strip club in Zanesville and New Castle, is charged with one count of felonious assault, a second-degree felony, after his Oct. 2 arrest in Mansfield, 70 miles northwest of Muskingum County. Authorities allege he stabbed a man after he and others allegedly burglarized George's home earlier on Sept. 27.
The Richland County Sheriff's Office confirmed the suspect is the same Thomas George who owns Foxhole North, which has a location on both Maysville Pike in Zanesville and U.S. 36 in Coshocton County.
Suspect arrested in Motel 6 stabbing
Court documents list George's address as 280 Avalon Drive in Springfield Township, which is located in the metropolitan area of Mansfield.
The Mansfield Police Department arrested George, 54, on a suspicion of being involved in the stabbing at a motel in the 500 block of North Trimble Road in Mansfield. George is out on bond after police charged him with the single count.
Authorities say George went to the motel after 9 a.m. that day to track down suspects who reportedly burglarized his home around 6 a.m. More than $40,000 in cash, jewelry and other items were reported stolen from the residence during that burglary, officials said.
Two people were later injured during the altercation in a room at the Motel 6 and taken to OhioHealth and MedCentral Mansfield Hospital, officials said.
George appeared Monday in Mansfield Municipal Court, where he pleaded not guilty. The Richland County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the case and could take it to a grand jury for indictment.
New Beginnings sues Foxhole strippers in federal court
George also is named in a lawsuit pending in federal court in Columbus alleging intimidation and violations of religious freedoms. Pastor William Dunfee, of Warsaw, filed the injunction against George and many of his dancers on Sept. 4.
The Coshocton County strip club has become the subject of controversy in the region because of a feud with Dunfee's Warsaw church, New Beginnings Ministries. The lawsuit outlines a number of instances in the past few years in which many of the scantily clad dancers would protest, often topless, outside New Beginnings on Sundays; it alleges they would insult and scare many churchgoers.
Dunfee and the 30 other plaintiffs named on the lawsuit are seeking monetary damages and to ban strippers and George from church property and from threatening churchgoers. Additionally, Dunfee is asking a judge to issue a restraining order against George.
Federal court documents do not list an attorney in that lawsuit for George or the other defendants.
The church and strip club have feuded for years. The dispute began in nine years ago when Dunfee and his flock started showing up outside the New Castle club to urge men to return home to their wives and for the female dancers to not objectify themselves.
In retaliation, George attempted to sue the church in 2009. Once that failed, he and his dancers began counterprotesting outside the church on Sundays.
Gannett Ohio reporter Lou Whitmire contributed to this article.
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