Felony obstruction case dropped against Michelle’s Beach House owner

Prosecutors on Thursday dropped felony obstruction of prosecution or apprehension, and misdemeanor battery charges against the longtime owner of Derby exotic dance club Michelle’s Beach House. 

“The case against Michelle Borin has been dismissed without prejudice,” Dan Dillon, spokesman for the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office, said by e-mail when asked the reason for the dismissal. 

Borin had been scheduled for a preliminary hearing on the charges Thursday morning. But Sedgwick County District Court Judge Jeffrey Goering signed off on the dismissal instead.

Borin, 56, was not in the courtroom.

“When a case is dismissed without prejudice, it can be refiled within the statute of limitations, which in this case would be five years,” Dillon continued. He gave no detailed explanation for the dropped charges, which were filed in March 2015.

Borin’s defense attorney, Charles O’Hara, could not be reached for comment Thursday afternoon.

Borin is perhaps best known locally for her commercials for Michelle’s Beach House and for her 2005 effort to buy BTK serial killer Dennis Rader’s Park City home. A felony conviction would have disqualified her from holding the liquor license for Michelle’s Beach House.

She was accused in the case of unlawfully and knowingly aiding her ex-husband, Leonard A. Devuono, who was convicted in 2006 of attempted aggravated indecent liberties of a minor. The battery charge accused Borin of having physical contact with a person “in a rude, insulting or angry manner” around March 16, 2015.

Around the same time prosecutors filed the felony charges, a woman who identified herself as Devuono’s victim filed a protection from stalking case, seeking a restraining order against Borin. She claimed Borin approached her at her workplace and touched her shoulders on March 16, 2015 — the same date the alleged battery in the criminal case occurred.

That protection case was dismissed two month after it was filed.

This story was originally published July 21, 2016 at 4:48 PM with the headline "Felony obstruction case dropped against Michelle’s Beach House owner."