TULSA, Okla. — More than five months after being accused of first degree rape and other offenses, the state dropped all charges against Nabil Alame.
Alame, a former restaurant owner in Tulsa, was accused of sexually abusing and mistreating his employees at The Goat Bar & Kitchen.
The District Attorney's office dismissed the case at the preliminary hearing on Sept. 30, 'in the best interest of justice.'
2 News' Stef Manchen attended the hearing and talked to Alame minutes after he learned his fate.
"I feel relieved," said Alame. "I’m thankful that the truth came out. The last five, six months have been very tough. I’m just thankful for everything, thankful for my attorneys and I feel good. I got my life back.”
Jay & Brett Swab represented Alame.
Brett said he believes the Tulsa Police Department does a good job investigating cases, but did not do that for their client.
“We think there were gross mishaps in the investigation, how it was conducted, the fact that it was a five-day period is frankly unheard of," said Brett. "They didn’t do what they needed to do to vet these allegations, and if they had, they would have never filed this charge.”
Brett said in a case like this, with many alleged victims, a typical time frame for investigation would be two to four months.
Alame's case was investigated for five days.
The women accusing him of abuse came forward on April 5. Alame was arrested on April 10.
“These allegations were made by phone for the most part, meaning that they weren’t actual victim interviews in person and that creates a problem," said Brett. "In this case, it was a very contributing factor as to why they ended up being baseless.”
2 News asked Alame if he thought his case would end up this way. He said he did.
“I was accused of things that I didn’t do," said Alame. "Ever since day one I had all the evidence that proves my innocence so I knew that this was going to actually end up working my way and get dismissed.”
Police took Alame's phone at the time of his arrest on April 10. His attorneys said all of the evidence to prove the allegations against him were either a lie or consensual were on that phone.
“This is actually the third prosecutor that got the case," he said. "Up unto that point, anyone who touched this case was frankly grossly negligent in their duties; that’s my opinion, and I’ve been doing it for over 34 years. I don’t say that lightly, but the fact that it was a five-day investigation and that in and of itself would give anyone pause if you were going to look at a charge and even approve it, you would need much more for this very reason.”
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- SUBSCRIBE on YouTube
