2 SLO County business owners accused of multiple sexual assaults, sparking investigation
The San Luis Obispo Police Department has launched an investigation into sexual assault allegations against two SLO County business owners after several women came forward on social media over the weekend.
The women are accusing Kin Coffee owner Julian Contreras and Nate Abate, owner of Nate’s Barbershop in Atascadero, of sexual assault over the span of several years.
“We are aware of the social media story developing regarding this case and the individuals (Contreras and Abate),” SLOPD Capt. Brian Amoroso said in an email to The Tribune. “At this point I can confirm that we have investigators looking into the allegations.”
The flurry of accusations erupted over the weekend following a sequence of Instagram posts by former San Luis Obispo resident Ash Riddell, who spoke to The Tribune on Monday.
Since that time, she said more than 30 other women have come forward to share their own experiences with Contreras and Abate, which include physical and sexual assault and harassment.
In the wake of the accusations, Kin Coffee was closed over the weekend and remained shuttered on Monday. An Instagram statement from Kin management on Saturday said Contreras was stepping down from the coffee shop, effective immediately, and that the company would be run by its employees moving forward. The business reopened on Tuesday.
When reached by The Tribune, Abate denied all allegations, calling any accusation against him false. Contreras has not responded to several requests by The Tribune for comment.
Abate told The Tribune in an interview that this is not the first time he’s been accused of sexual assault. He was accused of sexually assaulting a minor in 2012, he told The Tribune, but said the case was “unfounded” and he says he ultimately pleaded no contest to a false imprisonment charge.
Former SLO woman says she was sexually assaulted
Riddell, 31, said she was assaulted by Abate and Contreras in August 2012, and she finally felt comfortable coming forward publicly because she moved out of state. She didn’t feel safe speaking out while she still lived near the people she said assaulted her, she told The Tribune.
Riddell said she met Abate at a local brewery in San Luis Obispo when she was 21, and the two had a short-lived romantic relationship. She said Abate was not responsive to her following his arrest, which at the time she did not know was for an alleged sexual assault of a minor.
On that day in August 2012, she said Contreras texted, asking her and her friend to come to his house to drink with him and Abate. She and her friend went to the house around 8 p.m., and the four were drinking Jameson Irish Whiskey, playing music on the guitar and playing cards.
Riddell said she got too drunk and began throwing up in the bathroom. Contreras offered her weed, she said, but they could only smoke it in his room. Her, her friend, Abate and Contreras all went inside the room and smoked some weed.
“Before I knew it, they were on top of us,” she said.
She said she began slapping Contreras and Abate when Contreras began to touch her, and Abate grabbed her face and told her to calm down.
“And that’s what I did. I calmed down. I pretty much just gave up,” she said.
After the alleged assault, Riddell said her friend burst into tears and the two began looking for their belongings.
She said Abate screamed at them to “shut the f--- up,” and to get out because he and Contreras needed to sleep. Riddell said they left the house around 3 a.m., when a friend offered to pick them up.
She said Abate texted her the next day “like everything was normal” and wanted to bring her a ring she’d left at the house and take her out for drinks. At this point, she said she found out that Abate had been arrested for an alleged sexual assault of a minor.
She said she slammed her door in Abate’s face after he gave her the ring. That was the last time the two spoke.
More women speak out against Contreras, Abate
Riddell said more than 30 women have reached out to her to share their experiences with Contreras and Abate between the years of 2008 and 2021. She said the experiences include physical and sexual assault and harassment.
A second woman, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, told The Tribune that Abate sexually assaulted her in 2015 when she was 18. She said Contreras and Abate invited her and her friend over to one of their homes for drinks and games, and that it was just the two men and several young women at the house.
The woman said there was a lot of alcohol and drugs at the house. She does not think she drank enough to black out, she said, so she thinks she may have been drugged. She remembers having a few drinks then waking up to Abate sexually assaulting her. She said Abate told her, “I just couldn’t help myself, you’re so hot.”
“I definitely did not consent to having sex with him,” she told The Tribune.
She said she got into her car and drove home because she felt safer driving intoxicated than staying at the house.
The Tribune is not naming her and a third woman out of respect for their privacy as alleged victims of sexual assault.
The third woman said she also met Abate and Contreras in 2015 when she was 18 and described a one-and-a-half to two-year period of time where she said she was groomed by Contreras through a friendship that escalated to sexual encounters. She told the Tribune she met Contreras because her 28-year-old roommate was in a sexual relationship with Abate.
Contreras was working at another local coffeehouse at the time, she said, and the woman would go in often to work and grab a coffee. Contreras eventually hired her to work at the coffeehouse, she said.
She described numerous incidents where Contreras would serve her alcohol and she would get so drunk she could not consent to sexual acts. She described incidents where she would be crying in the middle of a sexual act, asking Contreras to stop, and he would blame her for being too drunk.
“When I would say, ‘Hey, this isn’t OK. I don’t really like how that happened last night. I don’t feel good ... it was always like, ‘Well, you were drunk, you were f----d up,” she told the Tribune.
And at the time, she believed that it was her fault. She said Contreras fired her as soon as he “was done with her,” after an argument. The relationship ended when she was 19.
Nate Abate denies accusations
In a phone interview with The Tribune, Abate denied all allegations, saying he had a consensual dating relationship with Riddell, who he said was upset over their breakup.
“We slept together a few times consensually,” Abate said. “That was it. There was nothing other than that.”
Additionally, Abate said he has never sexually assaulted anyone or had any inappropriate sexual relationship with a minor, despite the 2012 allegation.
“No one ever has accused me of that ever, except one time,” Abate said.
Abate said his false imprisonment no contest plea resulted from a party at Contreras’ home in which an underage girl claimed Contreras and he had raped her.
Abate said that he only entered into the plea agreement for the non-sex-related crime because his lawyer wanted $25,000 to go to trial, which he couldn’t afford.
Abate said the false imprisonment charge, to which he said pleaded no contest in court, was made against him because he was the only one who was 21.
“The arrest report was for sexual assault because that’s what I was being accused of,” he said. “So on the arrest report, that’s what it says. But there is no actual conviction because it was unfounded and untrue.”
Abate told The Tribune that Contreras and he were friends and grew up together in Santa Margarita.
“Julian and I did a lot of dumb stuff when we were younger, like drinking and smoking and having parties, but rape is not one of the things that was on the agenda,” he said.
Police have not contacted him about any of the accusations as of Monday morning, Abate said.
Coffee shop temporarily shuttered in wake of allegations
Contreras opened Kin Coffee Bar 847 Higuera St. in 2019.
The shop was closed to the public throughout the weekend and into Monday, and an employee at the business told The Tribune no one was available to respond to the allegations.
Instead, the shop has shared a series of statements on Instagram in recent days, commenting on the situation as a fervor grew online.
A post on Friday, which claimed to be from Contreras, said Abate had no affiliation with the business, and that the coffee shop “is and will always be a safe space for those feeling alone, seeking company or needing support.” The post noted the store employs more than “two dozen people and families.”
Then late Saturday — as part of the statement announcing Contreras’ departure from the business — Kin management said it was “important to us to maintain transparency through this transition, but please be patient and kind with us as we work through it.”
It is unclear when Kin will reopen to the public.
Meanwhile, Abate said his Atascadero business has been negatively impacted with poor Yelp reviews, and he’s speaking out publicly to The Tribune because he wants to clear his name.
“It’s one thing if you want to attack a person, but to attack their business, that’s a little different,” he said. “But I guess that’s just the society we live in these days where people just see stuff on the internet.”
Police investigate allegations of sexual assault
Neither Contreras nor Abate have been arrested.
As police investigate the case, they asked anyone who believes they are a victim to contact the Police Department directly to report what happened. The non-emergency phone number is 805-781-7317.
San Luis Obispo city officials released a statement as well:
“We have seen social media posts from community members sharing disturbing stories of sexual assault,” the statement said. “We ask anyone with information to please contact SLOPD. The city takes any report of sexual assault seriously and will investigate to the fullest extent of the law.”
Assistant District Attorney Eric Dobroth told the Tribune on Monday that he has heard of the situation at Kin Coffee, but has not received a referral from a law enforcement agency to investigate or file charges.
Anyone with additional information who wishes to speak to The Tribune about their experiences as part of a news tip may send an email to cjones@thetribunenews.com.
If you or someone you know are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673. The hotline offers a range of free services including confidential support from a trained staff member, help finding a local health facility, legal and medical advice and referrals for long-term support. Survivor support and resources are also available through Lumina Alliance at luminaalliance.org or their Crisis and Information Line at 805-545-8888.
This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 2:28 PM.
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