Jeff Moe had his most-newsworthy week in his Indiana home state since he tormented the Indiana Hoosiers as a University of Iowa basketball player.
Moe, an Indianapolis strip club owner and real estate developer, was arrested Monday morning in Indianapolis. He is accused of attacking Marion County/Indianapolis City County Council member Jeff Miller during a public meeting of the Alcoholic Beverage Board of Marion County.
Police say Moe grabbed miller by the throat, and slammed his head against a wall. Moe said he didn’t grab Miller’s neck. He was charged with two felonies and two misdemeanors.
“I grabbed his shirt and shook him,” was what Moe said he did when he was interviewed Wednesday on Indianapolis’ Fox Sports 975 radio station.
“I shook him for five or six seconds.”
Investigators found scratch marks and redness along Miller’s neck, according to court documents. The documents state Moe pushed Miller against a marble wall, and Miller’s head struck the wall twice. Miller was examined by medics on the scene, and released.
Moe spent the rest of Monday in jail before posting a $7,500 surety bond. He faces charges of criminal confinement, strangulation, battery resulting in bodily harm and disorderly conduct.
Moe was at the meeting to support Indianapolis business Liquor Barn, saying Miller was trying to steal the liquor license for its Meridian Street location. Miller testified against the renewal of the liquor license of Moe’s Indianapolis business, Lenny’s Gentlemen’s Club.
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“I went down (to the meeting) to say we live in America. Mr. Miller, quit stealing people’s liquor licenses.”
Moe played at Iowa from 1984-88, scoring 1,248 points. He had 24 points and five assists as a senior in the Hawkeyes’ 104-86 win over UNLV in the second round of the NCAA tournament’s West Regional, a small bit of revenge for Iowa’s loss to the Runnin’ Rebels in the West final the year before.
Moe was recruited out of Indianapolis to Iowa by then-coach George Raveling and flourished under Tom Davis. Moe averaged 11.1 and 12.9 points per game in his junior and senior seasons with Davis as coach. He had some of his biggest games against Indiana.
“It was so long ago,” said Moe, 51. “I did like playing against Indiana. I had two decent games with 25 points and maybe 18. Thirty-five years (30, actually) later, people will tell me ‘Man, you lit us up for 45 points every time.’
“But the one game in ’87 when we broke 100, that was pretty special.”
That was Iowa’s 101-88 win over the then-No. 3 Hoosiers in Iowa City. It was the first time in 466 games a Bob Knight-coached team had allowed 100 points.
“I liked Bobby Knight growing up,” Moe said. “Obviously, his form of discipline did not last past the year 2000. Society has changed.”
In his radio interview, Moe was unapologetic. “I didn’t hurt (Miller).
“If he apologizes for … fraudulently trying to steal my liquor license, I’ll gladly apologize for ruffling his feathers.”
In an unrelated matter, last November Miller was charged with three counts of child-molestation. His pretrial hearing is later this month.
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Moe’s club, meanwhile, has “been Lenny’s for 45 years,” Moe told Fox Radio show Query & Schultz. “Ninety-five percent of my work is in commercial real estate.”
Moe said the strip club “sort of fell in my lap” in 2012 as he was purchasing real estate in the area.
He called his Marion County Sheriff’s Office mug shot “horrible.”
“I’ve got to start working out. Owning a strip club, I spend an hour, and hour-and-a-half there. Usually I’ll run into somebody and have a couple beers. Yeah, it’s time I hit the gym.”
l Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@thegazette.com