Owner faces charge after stabbing, fight at Iowa City venue

The owner of an Iowa City nightclub has been charged with disorderly house, a simple misdemeanor, after two women were stabbed Sunday in the club.

Adesola Miller, 31, of Iowa City, is the owner of The Haven, which describes itself as a smoothie and juice bar and performance venue. Two women were stabbed at the venue about 1 a.m. Sunday. Then about 2:30 a.m., a fight between 20 and 30 people broke out inside The Haven, according to a criminal complaint.

Miller was present during both incidents and “made no efforts or attempts to prevent conduct that threatened injury to people and damage to property,” the complaint states.

Lacey Larie Bode, 35, of Iowa City, was arrested Monday in relation to the stabbings. She was charged with two counts of willful injury-causing bodily injury, and one count each of going armed with intent, assault while displaying a dangerous weapon and assault while displaying a dangerous weapon to a pregnant person.

Police officers nearby the venue were notified about the stabbing just before Miller was, and officers were called there again later by Haven security to help stop the fighting.

This is the second time Miller has been charged with disorderly house. At 3:30 a.m. Aug. 4, Miller was having a party at The Haven with loud music that could be heard in the alleyway. There were about 50 people inside the building and 20 people congregating outside, and Miller had been warned multiple times in the past about the noise coming from the establishment, a complaint states.

Miller pleaded guilty to the disorderly house charged in September and was fined $105.

The Haven is located at 220 S Van Buren St. in the same building that used to house the H-Bar, a hookah lounge that had a history of repeated police calls for service, including a fight that ended with a woman being shot multiple times and seriously injured in the alley outside the venue on Aug. 7, 2022.

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