In a quiet federal courtroom Wednesday morning, far from the media glare that hounded his co-defendants, Scott Speroni learned his fate.
He had once been a promising Navy SEAL, but a back injury and desperation led him to a job at the Crazy Horse Too strip club. That job ultimately led him to the courtroom of U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson, who sentenced Speroni to five years' probation.
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The sentence matched those of other low-level club employees who, like Speroni, pleaded guilty to tax evasion for taking envelopes of cash after shifts and failing to report it to the Internal Revenue Service.
Speroni was one of 17 people caught in the decade-long federal investigation into illegal activity at the club, near Sahara Avenue and Interstate 15, that included beating customers who refused to pay trumped-up credit card bills.
Speroni was not accused of taking part in the violence, only taking money under the table.
"You truly have before you a good person who made a mistake," lawyer Mark Bailus told the judge. "He realized he wasn't part of the Crazy Horse. It was a job. It was a way to support his family."
The former Navy man wasn't proud of working in a strip club, but it was a steady job for someone trained for battle and little else, his lawyer said.
Speroni planned to make a career in the Navy, but after eight years, a serious back injury forced him to take a medical discharge.
During his time as a SEAL, Speroni stood apart from his peers, wrote retired Navy Capt. James O'Connell, who served with Speroni in the 1980s and spent 25 years in the service.
"He had the raw talent, drive, leadership and force of character that defines our best operators and had proven his mettle under fire repeatedly," O'Connell wrote in a letter to Dawson.
Speroni spent six months fighting in Lebanon during the turmoil there.
He quit his job at the Crazy Horse Too several years ago to get a real estate license in Arizona to continue supporting his family, Bailus said.
"He recognized that was not the life he wanted," the lawyer said. "Unfortunately, the Crazy Horse, his involvement there, pulled him back."
