and was negligent in that they hired a dirt bag security guard who apparently had no one over seeing his corrupt actions. The fact he no longer works for them suggests he may have been fired over this. They are liable, just not as liable as Nifong and Wilson and their own dirty security guard.
Cabbie who figured in lacrosse case sues
By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun
jstevenson@heraldsun.com
Aug 29, 2007 : 11:01 pm ET
DURHAM — Durham cabbie Moezeldin Ahmad Elmostafa is suing a department store chain and a security guard over a shoplifting charge that figured heavily in the now-ended Duke lacrosse case.
As it turned out, Elmostafa beat the shoplifting rap [MEANING HE BEAT NIFONG] and was known among lawyers as the “hero of the lacrosse case” for becoming a defense alibi witness and standing up to former District Attorney Mike Nifong and Nifong’s then-investigator, Linwood Wilson.
...
Elmostafa’s lawsuit was drafted by lawyer Tom Loflin and filed in Durham County Superior Court just before the close of business Wednesday.
The named defendants are Hecht’s Company Inc.; May Stores X Inc, with which Hecht’s is now merged; and Jonathan Massey, a former Hecht’s security guard who originated the shoplifting charge against Elmostafa at Northgate Mall.
...
Defense lawyers had accused Nifong [NOTE: ACCUSED NIFONG, NOT HECHTS] of belatedly bringing the misdemeanor shoplifting charge against Elmostafa as a pressure tactic in the controversial lacrosse case.
The alleged shoplifting incident was in 2003, but Elmostafa wasn’t formally accused until May of last year.[NOTE: IT’S THE PROSECUTOR THAT BRINGS THE ACCUSATION, NOT HECHTS, PRESUMABLY USING AN OLD POLICE REPORT FILED AT THE TIME OF THE ORIGINAL INCIDENT BY HECHTS’ SECURITY GUARD, BUT NEVER ACTED UPON]
The charge came shortly after Elmostafa signed a sworn affidavit saying lacrosse suspect Reade Seligmann was in Elmostafa’s taxi around the time an exotic dancer claimed she was raped by Seligmann and two others during a party at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. in mid-March 2006.[AGAIN, THE TIMING HERE WAS CONTROLLED BY NIFONG]
Elmostafa said he drove Seligmann to a bank machine, a fast-food restaurant and a Duke dorm.
When the shoplifting incident came up in court a year ago this week, Elmostafa testified that he merely gave a cab ride to a woman who later pleaded guilty to stealing several handbags from the Hecht’s store at Northgate Mall. He claimed he didn’t know what the woman was up to and didn’t aid or abet her thievery. [PRESUMABLY THE HECHTS SECURITY GUARD WAS CALLED TO TESTIFY BASED ON HIS ORIGINAL REPORT]
Elmostafa was acquitted.
Nifong denied there was any connection between the shoplifting and lacrosse cases.[NIFONG IS LYING, OF COURSE]
But lawyer Loflin contended Nifong had used the shoplifting incident “to gain a tactical advantage over [Elmostafa], to try to pressure him into changing his evidence to favor the prosecution in the lacrosse case.” [OF COURSE, BUT THAT WAS ALL NIFONGS’ DOING, NOT HECHTS]
Massey, the former Hecht’s security guard, was accused in Wednesday’s lawsuit of obtaining the shoplifting warrant against Elmostafa “maliciously and without probable cause.”[THIS IS WHAT APPEARS TO CONFUSE — MASSEY’S ACCUSATION AGAINST THE SECURITY GUARD SEEMS TO GO TO THE ORIGINAL MOTIVATION IN FILING THE ORIGINAL ACCUSATION, NOT THE YEARS-LATER REVIVED ACTIONS ON THAT COMPLAINT BY NIFONG]
Massey knew the allegations he was making against Elmostafa were false but made them anyway, according to the suit.[NOTE: THIS DOES NOT SAY THAT HECHTS MADE/REVIVED THE ACCUSATIONS IN COORDINATION WITH NIFONGS’ LATER USE OF THE COMPLIANT — IT APPEARS TO CHALLENGE THE ORIGINAL COMPLIANT]
The suit added that Massey’s actions “were done willfully, wantonly, intentionally and with actual malice, or with reckless disregard and [indifference] as to the truth and consequences of said actions. ...” [BUT THIS SAYS NOTHING ABOUT BRINGING THE CHARGES AFTER-THE-FACT TO ASSIST NIFONG]
Hecht’s and May Stores are “vicariously liable” because Massey worked for them, the suit said.
The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages.
Rape charges against the lacrosse defendants — Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans — were dropped by Nifong in December after the accuser changed her story. All remaining felony charges were tossed in April by state Attorney General Roy Cooper, who declared the three men innocent and rebuked Nifong for prosecuting them in the first place.
Today, Nifong is scheduled to be the defendant in a contempt hearing that could bring him a 30-day jail term and a fine of up to $500, or both. He is accused of lying about DNA evidence favorable to Seligmann, Finnerty and Evans.