Woman says she was 14 when Nate Abate sexually assaulted her after school, as SLO trial begins
Editor’s note: This story mentions sexual assault.
The trial against the Atascadero business owner who was accused of sexually assaulting multiple women — including at least three minors — began Friday, with the first alleged victim taking the stand to testify that he raped her after school when she was 14.
Nathan “Nate” Abate, 36, was arrested and charged with multiple sex crimes on Jan. 19, 2023. He faces four sex crimes stemming from three incidents — oral copulation of a minor on Aug. 16, 2008; forcible rape and rape of an intoxicated person on Jan. 1, 2009; and forcible rape in June 1, 2012, according to court documents.
Abate pleaded not guilty to the crimes on Jan. 20, 2023.
The trial comes more than two years after more than 30 allegations arose on social media in April 2022. Those allegations accused both Abate, owner of Cardinal Barbershop in Atascadero, and his close friend, Julian Contreras, former owner Kin Coffee in San Luis Obispo, of sexual harassment or sexual assault.
The two were in their 20s at the time of the alleged assaults.
As of Oct. 1, Contreras still had a felony warrant out for his arrest, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office confirmed. He was believed to be out of the country.
Before opening statements Friday morning, San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Michael Frye ruled three additional women can testify about their alleged assaults by Abate because the allegations were similar to the crimes charged, bringing the total of alleged victims expected to testify to six.
Prosecutor lays out case in opening statement
San Luis Obispo County Deputy District Attorney Kimberly Dittrich started her opening statements by listing the six women who plan to testify about their alleged assaults.
Jennifer was 22. Elizabeth and Ashley were 20. Tiffiany and Carina were 14, and Lauren was 14 or 15. The women are all going by their first names only.
“All six of these women have one horrific thing in common: The defendant Nathan Abate,” Dittrich told the jury.
Dittrich said the testimonies of all six women will show Abate had a routine: He would partner with Contreras, isolate a woman, give them drugs or alcohol then coerce or force the women into sex acts with him alone or with him and Contreras together.
“You will learn these women suffered differently,” Dittrich told the jury. “Some silently and some not silently.”
She said Ashley’s initial post on social media was shocking to all the women, but served as a catalyst for each to come forward about their own experiences.
Abate’s defense attorney, Scott Taylor, alleged that the six women co-conspired to bring charges against Abate.
“This is a case about recruitment and corroboration, “ Taylor told the jury during his opening statements.
He alleges Ashley recruited women to say they were assaulted by Abate and Contreras so they could coordinate their stories when she posted her initial Instagram post in January 2022 and continued posting on the social media site.
He added that the jury will not hear from Contreras because “he’s gone now. He’s in Mexico.”
He alleged Tiffany, Lauren and Carina were all friends and called one another before coming forward because of the “social media firestorm” created by Ashley.
“You’re not going to hear any corroboration except them corroborating each other,” he said.
SLO County man sought out threesome with 14-year-old, victim testifies
Tiffany Doe said she was 14 when she first met Abate and Contreras in 2008. On the stand Friday, she said she was 30.
Tiffany testified that she and Lauren were best friends from the ages of 12 to 14 — when she moved out of state — and had numerous childhood memories together.
She said she knew Carina but had only hung out with her in groups a few times and did not consider her a close friend.
She said she had met Abate and Contreras a few times. Once was at a live music event at a church, once at a party, and the third was her assault.
Tiffany testified that one night, she and Lauren were having a sleepover at Lauren’s house and decided to sneak out to attend a party. Someone picked them up — she didn’t recall who it was — and drove for “a long time” on a freeway before getting to the house.
She said there was drinking at the party but doesn’t remember exactly what alcohol she drank. She mostly stayed in the living room on the couch, but at one point she saw Lauren being led into a bedroom. She testified she did not see who led Lauren into the bedroom.
Both Abate and Contreras were at the party, she testified.
About 30 minutes to an hour later, Lauren returned to the living room and told Tiffany she had just lost her virginity.
“She didn’t like what had happened to her,” Tiffany said.
Lauren’s parents were calling Lauren nonstop, Tiffany said, so someone drove them to a different part of town to get picked up.
At some point after that party, Tiffany said Abate and Contreras both texted her separately to arrange a hangout. The two eventually picked her up from Paso Robles High School to go to Contreras’ house. During the drive, Abate and Contreras brought up having a threesome with Tiffany.
“I remember the feeling of ‘Oh my gosh what did I get myself into,’” Tiffany said on the stand. “We were in the car and driving so far. What was I gonna say?”
Once they arrived at the house, the three went straight to the bedroom. She said she told them she wanted to be blindfolded because it was very bright in the room and “I was just so uncomfortable. If it could be pitch black, I would have requested it.”
Through the bottom of the blindfold, she said she saw one of the men go toward a desk before returning to her. She testified that she said no to the men having sex with her anally and vaginally, so the compromise was orally and vaginally.
She said the two men took turns until they were “done,” then took her home. She said she told Lauren she had had a threesome with Abate and Contreras, but didn’t tell Lauren a lot of details because of Lauren’s reaction.
Tiffany said she felt ashamed and embarrassed, and that the assault affected the way she viewed herself for a very long time.
“I grew up thinking I was only worth one thing,” she said. “My looks, sex appeal. I just let people use me for my body because that’s all I thought I was worth.”
More than a decade later in 2022, Tiffany said Lauren called her and told her that Carina said she been shown a video of Tiffany’s assault with Abate and Contreras when Carina was 14.
Tiffany messaged Carina on Facebook, she said, and Carina sent her an Instagram post from Ashley and information on how to contact law enforcement. She said she decided to come forward to law enforcement because she heard Abate and Contreras had allegedly continued targeting 14-year-olds.
She spoke briefly with an officer in April 2022, she said, and then another officer called her on May 12, 2022. She told that officer the gist of her assault, but then said she wanted to talk with her therapist before going into further detail.
She then spoke with law enforcement on May 17, 2022, with her therapist on the line as well, to talk in greater detail about her assault, Tiffany said. She said she has not spoken with Carina or Lauren since the call and Facebook message and had never spoken with an Ashley, Jennifer or Elizabeth in relation to the case. She also did not interact with Ashley’s Instagram, she said.
When she was given a restitution form, she requested $100 million because “there is no amount of money that can pay for taking someone’s innocence,” adding that she knew Abate didn’t have $100 million and that she did not expect any money for testifying, but that she believed his punishment should be having everything taken from him.
After Tiffany completed her testimony, Ryan Berta took the stand.
He did not identify Abate in the courtroom but did identify Abate’s mugshot. He said he, Abate and Contreras were in the same skateboarding group but were not close friends.
He said he remembered going to a party at Contreras’ mother’s house that was attended by Abate, Tiffany and Lauren, but he did not remember how he got there or any details about what happened at the party. He said he was not aware at that time that Tiffany and Lauren were underage.
The trial is scheduled to resume Monday at 1:30 p.m. with more witness testimony.
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 October 4, 2024 at 6:30 PM.
