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Strip club manager lied about video in beating death, detective testifies

Two Philadelphia police officers told a Common Pleas Court jury Monday that the owner of the Oasis strip club and his manager quickly went from purported victims to suspects in the beating of one patron and death of another.

Two Philadelphia police officers told a Common Pleas Court jury Monday that the owner of the Oasis strip club and his manager quickly went from purported victims to suspects in the beating of one patron and death of another.

Officer Alexander Montes, the first to arrive at the Southwest Philadelphia gentlemen's club on Oct. 16, 2009, testified that club owner Robert Laflar said two men had "jumped him, started fighting, and tried to rob him of his Rolex watch."

Laflar, however, did not look like he had been in a fight, Montes said. One of his two alleged assailants, James Koons, lay unconscious in the parking lot bleeding from his head. The other, George Foreacre III, stood nearby, bruised, shirt ripped, looking "as if he been through a fight."

Detective Dennis Slobodian testified that Oasis manager John Pettit told him he saw Laflar being assaulted by Koons and Foreacre, and also said the club's security cameras did not work.

As it turned out, Slobodian testified, the system did work. The video Slobodian later watched showed no assault or attempted robbery of Laflar.

Instead, Slobodian continued, it showed Koons and Foreacre being punched and assaulted by Laflar, Pettit, and bouncers from the club.

Asked when he began to suspect Pettit, Slobodian answered: "When he lied to me about the video system."

The officers and detectives were questioned Monday as prosecutors presented their case against Pettit, 55, for third-degree murder in the death of Koons, 31.

Laflar had also been charged but died of a drug overdose in January 2012 at age 46.

According to trial testimony, Foreacre and Koons went to Oasis, at 6800 Essington Ave., about 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 16, 2009, to watch the Phillies playoff game against the Dodgers.

About 6 p.m., the two inebriated men were roughly ejected from the club and stood outside heckling Pettit and the bouncers.

When Laflar arrived in his Hummer SUV, the video showed, Pettit and the bouncers ran to the vehicle, and the owner sucker-punched Foreacre to the asphalt. Much of the action occurs behind the Hummer, out of camera range. Foreacre is seen staggering from behind the SUV. The Hummer moves, and Koons is visible on the ground.

Questioned by Assistant District Attorney Mark Levenberg, Detective Craig Fife described questioning Pettit early on Oct. 17, 2009.

Pettit told him the men were ejected from the club for "basic disruptiveness," Fife said. "They were very loud and intimidated other customers."

Fife said Pettit claimed that Koons swung at him first and that he knocked or pushed Koons to the ground. Pettit told Fife he also was knocked to the ground, fought with Foreacre, and suffered a bloody nose and a bruised face.

But Fife said he saw no signs of bruising on Pettit's face. At one point, after he told Pettit about the video, Fife said, Pettit began to cry.

Fife described Pettit as saying, "I'm sorry for what happened but any action I took today was in self-defense. I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt."

Koons never regained consciousness and died Nov. 2, 2009. An autopsy showed a blow to his forehead broke his skull and drove bone into his brain. A skull fracture in the rear of his head occurred when he fell back onto the lot.

Defense attorney A. Charles Peruto Jr. has argued that Pettit should be acquitted or found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Levenberg has argued that Pettit was motivated by bad blood between Laflar and Koons, and that Koons had been barred from Oasis for a time.

jslobodzian@phillynews.com

215-854-2985 @joeslobo

www.philly.com/crimeandpunishment