DeKalb County police have arrested a suspect in Tuesday's fatal shooting of the co-owner of a strip club.
Joey Celestin, 28, faces one count of murder and armed robbery in the shooting death of Terry Stephenson, DeKalb police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said Wednesday. He was arrested Wednesday at his Canton apartment and is being held without bond.
Stephenson, 49, was shot repeatedly outside the entrance of Pin Up's, located just east of Decatur on E. Ponce De Leon Avenue. He was en route to the bank to deposit the club's holiday weekend revenues.
The former firefighter was shot four times, once in the face, according to witnesses.
"I've had lots of clients, and he was one of my favorites," Stephenson's attorney, Alan Begner, told the AJC. "He was very appreciative, courteous, friendly ... "
Celestin, the shooting suspect, plead guilty in 2003 to an undisclosed third-degree felony in Dade County, Fla., according to court records. Two years earlier, he was convicted of possessing less than 20 grams of cannabis in Broward County.
With so much cash on hand, strip club employees often find themselves a target of opportunistic criminals. In 1993, two Riverdale police officers killed Goldrush Showbar owner Henry Lamar Jeffcoat at his home following a bungled robbery. The investigation into Jeffcoat's death uncovered a vast burglary ring involving off-duty law enforcement officers.
Doug Cocchi, who owns Prime Time on Covington Highway, said it's standard for clubs to hire armed cops as escorts on bank deposits. Stephenson was unaccompanied Wednesday afternoon.
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