The Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office has decided that it will not prosecute the local restaurateur accused of sexual assault last year.
Jura Aghassi, 59, former owner of the Jura’s Pizza Parlor in Oakdale, was accused of sexually assaulting an employee at pizza parlor last year.
After an investigation, the Stanislaus DA’s Office determined they would be unable to prove the charges without reasonable doubti, said Deputy District Attorney Merill Hoult.
"Jura Aghassi was innocent of these charges. He insisted on his innocence throughout this process,” said Kirk McAllister, Aghassi’s attorney. “The District Attorney’s Office obviously made the right decision by considering all the facts and agreeing that he was innocent. For that reason, they refused to issue any criminal charges."
Aghassi had been arrested for forced oral copulation, sexual battery, and rape with a foreign object on Oct. 20, 2014.
The female that claimed she was sexually assaulted by Aghassi alleged that he turn the camera’s in the back office and attempted to take off her clothes and put his hands down her pants, according to court documents.
Aghassi was set to face arraignment in Stanislaus County Superior Court multiple times, but each time the prosecutors asked for more time to review the case.
While being the namesake of the original Jura’s Pizza Parlor in Turlock, now located at 301 N. Center St., Aghassi is not the owner of the Turlock location, it is owned by his sister Pap.
“As we said before, we knew from day one that the truth would come out,” said Pap. “We would like to thank our family and our friends that have supported us through this time and we’d also like to thank our customers that have supported our business in this really rough time of ours."
