The operators of a now-closed Beaverton strip club must pay $1 million in damages to a teenager subjected to sexual harassment after she was illegally hired to dance nude at the business when she was 15, Oregon's labor department announced Thursday.

The ruling by an administrative law judge brings a close to the second half of a 2015 complaint filed by the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries against Frehoo Inc., which operates the strip club chain Stars Cabaret. The business owners reached a $1.25 million settlement in June with an 18-year-old after she was forced to perform sex acts on customers in a backroom at the same Beaverton club in 2012 when she was 13.

In the latest case, the judge determined Stars Cabaret owners Randy Kaiser, Todd Mitchell and Jeff Struhar as well as former Beaverton club manager Jon Herkentath aided and abetted civil rights violations against the teen dancer, who is now 18.

She danced nude at the club seven times in August 2014 and was groped by customers, authorities said.

"Today's order begins to address the trauma and harm faced by these underage minors," Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian said in a statement. "Protecting the most vulnerable among us is at the core of our agency's mission. I appreciate the relentless and diligent work of our civil rights and administrative prosecution teams in securing justice that reflects the severity of abuse."

Janis Puracal and Joel Shapiro, the teen's attorneys, said in a joint statement that the ruling means Stars Cabaret's owners will be held accountable for what happened to the young woman.

"It should also send a message to strip club owners across the country that they will be held responsible when they allow children to be trafficked through their clubs," they said. "Really, it was the victim's voice that convinced the court to take action, and it is her voice that matters here."

Courtney Angeli, an attorney representing Frehoo, declined to comment saying they were still reviewing the judge's final order in the case.

A $4 million civil lawsuit against Frehoo, Stars Cabaret's owners and others in Washington County Circuit Court is pending. A trial is scheduled for next April.

The teen dancer met a man named Anthony Curry after she ran away from a drug treatment center and he brought her to his home, Washington County prosecutors said. Curry began sexually abusing her, got her a fake ID and helped her get jobs dancing at Jags Clubhouse in Portland, The Dolphin II and Stars Cabaret in Beaverton and Sunset Strip in Cedar Hills, prosecutors said.

A bartender at the club later saw a photo of the teen in a missing child posting on Facebook. She told a manager, who told one of the owners, who told Herkenrath and ordered him to contact police. The underage dancer stopped performing at the strip club when she started getting messages from a Beaverton police detective.

Police tracked the girl to the Sunset Strip, where they waited for her to arrive one day in September. When she got out of Curry's car, she was taken into protective custody and Curry was arrested.

Curry was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for using a child in display of sexually explicit conduct under Oregon's three-strikes law for repeat sex offenders.

Stars Cabaret's Beaverton club closed in July 2016. There are three other locations in Bend, Salem and Tualatin.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey