ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 8, 1997 TAG: 9704080066
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE THE ROANOKE TIMES
Judge said he didn't see overwhelming evidence that the club manager was involved in arson.
A second defendant in the Abed racketeering case is entitled to be free pending trial, a federal judge ruled Monday, setting bond for the former manager of Mixers Restaurant and Lounge.
Riyadh Gibriel is accused of helping set fire to the nightclub on a packed Saturday night in April 1994. But he is not charged with any of the racketeering counts that members of the Abed family face, counts that make it harder for the Abeds to get bond.
Gibriel, who lives in Atlanta, must post $100,000 secured bond, U.S. District Judge Samuel Wilson ordered.
"I had hoped it would be a little bit less," his attorney, Chris Kowalczuk, said after the hearing. "But step one is complete."
Gibriel had not made bond by Monday evening.
Wilson said he had no doubt that the Mixers fire was deliberately set, but said he had "not received evidence that was overwhelming" about Gibriel's involvement.
Gibriel, a Palestinian refugee born in Saudi Arabia, became a U.S. citizen last year. He runs a used-car lot with his wife. He traveled to Saudi Arabia twice last year even after he learned of the federal investigation and testified that he wouldn't consider fleeing.
"I knew I was going to be indicted and I returned to the United States because it's home," he told the judge. "Number one, I'm innocent. And number two, I want to clear my name. I have nothing to hide."
State Police Special Agent Gus Necessary testified that a witness heard Gibriel say he had paid someone $2,000 to burn down Mixers and that Gibriel then warned the witness not to talk.
Gibriel denied that and said the witness had not told state police investigating the fire about the alleged threat when they first interviewed him.
Ahmad Thiab, the only other defendant in the case to make bond, was the owner of record of Mixers. Gibriel acted as the manager, and also owned an interest in the business at least for a while, according to court documents in a civil case involving the fire.
Joseph Abbott - also known as Joseph Abed - whose family ran a pancake restaurant there before it became Mixers, guaranteed the lease for Thiab.
The insurance company refused to pay the claim on the building after it burned; Thiab and Gibriel sued and lost.
Thiab and Gibriel are not accused of racketeering and the related offenses that their eight co-defendants face. They are charged only with the Mixers arson and insurance fraud.
The other defendants - six members of the Abed family and two associates - are accused of a variety of arson, extortion, drug dealing and murder charges. All have pleaded not guilty.
In a statement to The Roanoke Times, Abbott - the alleged godfather of the group - said, "They accused me with all these fabricated, unfounded allegations. They have the power to abuse the taxpayers' money. ...They have all the sources they need and all the personnel they want to prepare a case against me, and yet they deprive me my rights for a bond and to be out there to prepare for my so-called case. God knows I am innocent."
All of the Abeds have been denied bond. Both Abbott's brother, who says his name is Abed Jalil Jamil, and store owner Fahed Tawalbeh have appealed the denial of their bond to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Abbott was indicted under the name Joseph Abed but says he legally changed his name years ago. Jamil was indicted under the name Abed Abdeljalil, although prosecutors say that was just the name they picked for the indictment out of a number of aliases. The Abed family - both those indicted and unindicted relatives - use a variety of names.
Meanwhile, the attorney for Amar Abed, Jamil's son, has told the court that he plans to use an insanity defense. Abed, who served in the Army and fought in the Persian Gulf War, has been treated at the VA Medical Center for schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.
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