2 Men Sentenced in Dancer’s Beating

Two men were sentenced to jail terms Tuesday for beating up an exotic dancer and her driver after she refused a demand for sex, City Atty. James K. Hahn said.

Kenneth Price, 30, of Newbury Park and Richard Benn, 30, of North Hollywood were convicted last week of misdemeanor battery and other charges in the Jan. 23 attack.

Price also was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and making a death threat. Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Debre Katz Weintraub sentenced him to 330 days in jail and 30 days on a Caltrans or graffiti-removal work crew, prosecutors said.

Benn, who lived in the North Hollywood apartment where the attack took place, was sentenced to 150 days in jail and 40 days on a work crew. He also was convicted of theft and dissuading a victim from reporting a crime by taking the dancer’s cellular phone when she tried to call for help, said Deputy City Atty. George A. Schell.

“These two people decided that, well, just because somebody is a dancer, that they could do basically what they wanted to her in terms of violence,” Schell said.

The men had hired the 25-year-old Rancho Cucamonga woman through an ad in L.A. Weekly. She arrived at Benn’s apartment and performed a striptease for Price after she was paid $100.

The encounter turned violent after Price asked for sex and the woman refused, saying it was illegal, Schell said. Price and Benn both beat the woman and also attacked her driver, a 22-year-old Boyle Heights man, who heard her screaming and rushed to her aid.

Neighbors called police. As he was arrested, Price threatened to kill the driver.

The woman suffered bruises in the beating and the driver was hit so hard in the head with a flashlight that he suffered memory loss.

Schell said the convictions and jail terms “send out a message that everyone, whatever their circumstances, is entitled to the protection of the law.”