An Atlanta attorney says a business trip to an Alabama strip club became a nightmare involving planted fentanyl, handcuffs and drug-trafficking charges – and federal investigators allege a Prichard police officer helped orchestrate the setup.

Terry Bailey says he traveled to Prichard to help a client evaluate a nightclub purchase. Instead, he and his driver, Brandon Tatum, ended up arrested after officers searched their rental vehicle and discovered drugs the men say someone had planted.

“Everybody who hears the story keeps saying it feels like a movie,” Bailey told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Now, both men are suing.

Their federal civil rights lawsuit, filed September 24 in Alabama’s Southern District, names the city of Prichard, former Police Chief Walter Knight, former officer Emanuel Naman Dotch II and other police personnel as defendants.

RELATED: DA: ‘Cultural rot’ led grand jury to recommend rebuilding Prichard Police Department

The alleged scheme began with what appeared to be ordinary legal work.

According to the complaint, a prospective client met with Bailey in Georgia, paid a consultation fee and arranged for him to visit Alabama. Before the trip, the client asked Bailey to give an acquaintance a ride.

Bailey and Tatum picked up the passenger at an Atlanta Target. During the drive, the passenger claimed he could not find his wallet and requested a stop in Fort Deposit, the lawsuit says.

The complaint alleges that, while Bailey was inside the gas station and Tatum was on the phone in the front seat, the passenger planted a bag of drugs behind Bailey’s seat.

After dropping him off in Prichard, the men drove to the club and waited for the supposed client.

Police arrived instead.

The initial explanation for the detention, according to FBI Special Agent Evan Fischer’s affidavit: Their vehicle was “supposed to be straighter in the lines.”

Fischer wrote that body-camera footage showed the vehicle was lawfully parked.

The affidavit alleges Dotch directed officers by phone to fabricate probable cause for a search. When a drug-sniffing dog was unavailable, officers turned to a purported marijuana odor—after officers initially said they smelled nothing.

Investigators believe fentanyl and methamphetamine had already been stashed in the vehicle without the men’s knowledge.

The federal indictment also alleges an unlawful seizure of the men’s firearms, listing their Second Amendment rights alongside protections against unlawful searches and deprivation of liberty.

As for a possible motive, the FBI affidavit records Bailey’s belief that the setup was connected to his wife’s custody dispute with her former husband. That account is a suspected motive, not an established finding.

Bailey spent several days in jail. Tatum remained behind bars for roughly two weeks.

Their attorneys say the damage extended beyond the jailhouse: An Atlanta lawyer’s name had been publicly associated with felony fentanyl trafficking, potentially following him every time a prospective client searched for him online.

The lawsuit says all charges against the men were dismissed December 3, 2025, after authorities reviewed body-camera footage and identified apparent civil rights violations.

The case now sits inside a much larger police corruption scandal.

Federal authorities announced Dotch’s arrest in June on allegations involving civil rights violations, bribery, evidence tampering and extortion. Authorities separately accused him of concealing evidence for violent individuals and agreeing to transport bulk marijuana for corrupt payments while acting as a police officer.

By July, a special Mobile County grand jury was recommending that Prichard abolish and rebuild its police department.

The Mobile County District Attorney’s Office said the grand jury identified failures involving evidence handling, investigations and officer misconduct. It recommended contracting with Mobile County for police services while the department was rebuilt.

The grand jury also indicted Knight and Aaron Tucker on separate allegations involving the use of public time and equipment for private funeral procession work. Those allegations are distinct from the alleged setup of Bailey and Tatum.

Dotch has pleaded not guilty in the federal criminal case and is awaiting trial, according to the AJC. The newspaper reported that the civil defendants had not yet formally responded to the lawsuit and that a city spokesperson did not respond to its questions. The allegations have not been proven at trial.

Bailey and Tatum are seeking compensatory and punitive damages.

Mark Begnaud, an attorney representing the men, told FOX10 the case is about accountability as well as compensation.

“I’ve never seen anything like this outside … of a TV show,” he said.