Teen settles suit against Applebee's after strip search

<p>A Salem teenager who was strip-searched by her boss at Applebee's restaurant on the orders of a telephone scam artist has reached an out-of-court settlement with the national restaurant chain.</p><p>The girl's suit against Restaurant Concepts II, the Georgia-based company that operates Applebee's, cites battery, invasion of privacy and negligence.</p><p>The matter was resolved last month in a confidential settlement, the girl's attorney, Richard Slezak, said Monday.</p><p>Slezak said the girl, 17 years old at the time, was ordered by the 43-year-old female restaurant manager to take off her clothing in an office at the Salem restaurant. The manager said she was following the orders of a caller who said he was a police officer investigating a theft from the restaurant.</p><p>The scam resembles one that has been successfully carried out at about 65 restaurants nationwide since 1999, investigators said.</p><p>Investigators think the caller is phoning from northern Florida.</p><p>In the Salem case, the manager frisked the teen, "telling the caller as she was doing so," the suit states. As the girl removed each article of clothing, the manager told the caller what they looked like. The manager then placed the clothing in a bag, leaving the girl "undressed and visible to restaurant employees" through a window in the office.</p><p>It wasn't until a male cook came into the office 45 minutes later and took the phone that the incident ended. The caller asked the cook about the girl's physical appearance, and the cook hung up the phone. Slezak said phone records show the man called from a pay phone in Panama City, Fla.</p><p>Slezak said the caller spoke directly to the girl, telling her to "quit blubbering like a baby," and that "if this turns out not to be true, you can sue the restaurant for millions of dollars."</p><p>Applebee's Kansas-based corporate offices referred questions about the matter to the franchise owner, who could not immediately be reached for comment.</p>