SLO County business owner arrested, charged with rape following sexual assault investigation
An Atascadero business owner accused of sexual assault by multiple women was arrested Thursday on suspicion of sex crimes, according to the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office.
Nathan “Nate” Abate, owner of Cardinal Barbershop in Atascadero, was charged with oral copulation of a person under the age of 18 and rape by use of drugs — both felonies, the District Attorney’s Office said Thursday in a news release.
The alleged crimes occurred against two separate victims between August 2008 and December 2010, the agency said.
The San Luis Obispo Police Department and San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office began investigating Abate and Julian Contreras, former owner of Kin Coffee in downtown San Luis Obispo, in April 2022 after several criminal allegations came to light on social media.
So far only Abate has been charged. The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office has obtained an arrest warrant for Contreras and detectives are actively trying to locate him, the sheriff said in a news release.
Former San Luis Obispo resident Ash Riddell sparked a local #MeToo movement in April when she accused Abate and Contreras of assaulting her.
Since then, more than 30 women have come forward on social media with similar stories of sexual assault or harassment by the two men sometime between 2008 and 2021.
In August, the SLO Police Department told The Tribune that the agency’s investigation was inactive because the majority of reported incidents occurred outside of its jurisdiction. Those that did occur within the agency’s jurisdiction did not have enough evidence to pursue, the department said.
The Sheriff’s Office sent its investigation to the District Attorney’s Office in early December, recommending charges for both men based on allegations from six women.
Abate was in San Luis Obispo County Jail custody on Thursday afternoon in lieu of $500,000 bail.
He is scheduled to be arraigned at 8:30 a.m. Friday in Department 3 of San Luis Obispo Superior Court.
This story was originally published January 19, 2023 at 4:36 PM.
