TAMPA - The Carolina Panther cheerleaders are best known for their sideline entertainment at Panther football games. But now a couple of 'Topcats,' as they're known, are becoming known for their purported performance in a bathroom.
Tampa police arrested Angela Keathley, 26, along with another woman whose identity is still in question early Sunday morning after police say they were in the middle of a bar brawl at Banana Joe's in Channelside.
"There had been a physical altercation between one lady and another bar patron, all over the use of a stall or something that happened in the bathroom," stated Lt. John Newman of Tampa police. "According to the report, there was quote, unquote some sort of sexual activity going on in the stall."
Police say one woman, who identified herself as Kristen Owen, punched another woman in the face; she was charged with battery. Keathly, who's also a registered nurse, was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
But after the women posted bond, police learned that the first woman was not actually Kristen Owen. Police believe the woman they arrested may actually be another cheerleader.
The real Kristen Owen is a first-year cheerleader with the Topcats and a recent college graduate. Her mother spoke to Action News from North Carolina about the mistaken identity Sunday night.
"She was out of town in Columbia, South Carolina, at a wedding," Renee Owen insisted. "She did not go to Tampa this weekend."
Renee said her daughter was sickened by her inadvertent involvement in the whole thing, and that she had spent that day "crying and throwing up."
"It's been, particularly with the sexual things, just awful," she added.
Police will try to identify the mystery woman with fingerprints and help from the NFL on Monday. The Owen family is considering filing a lawsuit against that woman for defaming Kristen's good name. NFL cheerleaders do not normally travel with their teams, so it was not clear in what capacity the women were in Tampa.
