Restaurant owner found not guilty of assaulting ex-server

A restaurateur accused of indecently assaulting a former server was found not guilty Friday.

Amabile “John” Carbonara, 56, of Peters, the owner of Carbonara’s Ristorante and Lounge on Mt. Lebanon Boulevard, faced charges of indecent assault, harassment and unlawful restraint. A jury deliberated for less than an hour before acquitting him on all charges.

The trial began Wednesday before Allegheny Common Pleas Judge Thomas E. Flaherty.

The former server testified that Mr. Carbonara spanked her with a back scratcher Oct. 15 and six days later unbuttoned her shirt and groped her in his office at the Castle Shannon restaurant.

She also testified that after the second alleged assault, she immediately went to the bathroom to compose herself and then texted her boyfriend before leaving the premises.

As part of its case, the prosecution showed video of the woman accompanying Mr. Carbonara into his office at 1:58 p.m. and then leaving six minutes later.

On Thursday, the defense attempted to discredit the woman’s

story by presenting video footage showing she did not immediately proceed to the bathroom after leaving Mr. Carbonara’s office.

Instead, the video revealed that after the second alleged incident, she returned to waiting on a table and then talked to Mr. Carbonara at the bar in what appeared to be a friendly conversation.

“He didn’t go up to her. She came up to him,” defense attorney William Difenderfer said. “They’re less than a foot apart from one another. They’re laughing, they’re having fun.”

Jurors heard closing arguments Friday afternoon.

Assistant district attorney Michael Pradines told jurors that Mr. Carbonara was “a man who presents two faces. … Unfortunately, the victim in this case saw the worse of those faces.”

“The prosecution’s evidence is from one single person,” Mr. Difenderfer said in his closing statement. “Not one piece of evidence supports what this young woman testified to.”