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Bar Owner Pleads Guilty
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COLE COUNTY - The owner of the Shakel's Secrets Juice Bar has pled guilty to misdemeanor attempting to promote prositution.

The guilty plea means the juice bar won't be reopening, and some neighbors won't be sorry to see the business go.

Morgan Nacy, a pre-school teacher, has worked at the daycare across the street from the juice bar for 11 months. She said the bar has had a definite effect on business.

"We're open till 12:30 at night, so some parents were concerned about him being open and us being open at the same time so that kind of hindered a couple of kids from enrolling," she said.

On Tuesday, Owner Michael Barnard pled guilty to misdemeanor attempting to promote prostitution in the third degree. A judge sentenced him to two years unsupervised probation.

The plea was to a lesser offense than Barnard's original charges.

In March, officials charged Barnard with a second degree felony of promoting prostitution and a misdemeanor for providing alcohol to minors on the campus. Now that the doors of Shackles are closed, Barnard hopes to begin a new chapter in his life.

Nacy and Barnard's attorney agree that the biggest problem with the bar was its location.

"It wasn't discreet enough. It was too visible for most people who go to an adult business and want a little privacy about it," said Barnard's attorney, Daniel Dodson. "I guess if he wanted to open it outside of city limits that would be different but since it is technically in city limits it kind of mixed emotions."

Dodson hopes that everyone can put the existence of the juice bar behind them.

"Now he's going back to his jewelry business that he does and it's in the past now," Dodson said.

Barnard sold the bar last week. It's now a private residence.

Reported by: Larhonda Craig
Posted by: Jaryd Wilson
Edited by: Robert Kessler

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