Prosecutors present video, physical and photographic evidence

Former restaurateur charged with assault

An Allegheny County prosecutor Friday presented physical, video and photographic evidence against a former Regent Square restaurant owner on trial on charges of stalking and sexually assaulting a woman in her home last year.

On the third day of trial for Adnan Pehlivan, the prosecution introduced a range of evidence meant to incriminate the former owner of the defunct Turkish restaurant, Istanbul Sofra:

• A piece of white T-shirt torn by the 25-year-old alleged victim from her attacker that matched a torn shirt found on a shelf in Mr. Pehlivan’s bathroom 18 hours after the incident;

• A white dress shirt made by a Turkish company found in Mr. Pehlivan’s Swissvale home that had the same white buttons with a scripted “igs” logo as five buttons found in the woman’s apartment

that had been torn off her attacker’s shirt;

• 12 minutes of video showing a silver BMW, registered to Mr. Pehlivan, with him driving, following the woman and her two friends along five blocks of East Carson Street as they went to their car after spending time at Kopy’s Bar;

• Photographs showing a small scratch on Mr. Pehlivan’s neck and a red spot on his shoulder; the alleged victim said she grabbed and scratched at her assailant as he tried to flee from her apartment on the South Side Slopes.

Mr. Pehlivan, 47, is accused of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, burglary, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, simple assault and stalking in the May 15 incident. Police said he broke into the women’s Josephine Street home through a window and sexually assaulted one of them.

His defense attorney, Lee Rothman, has attempted to portray the encounter between his client and the alleged victim as consensual. In his opening statement, he told the jurors that he believed that the woman was drunk, and that in the middle of the encounter, she regretted what was happening and became upset.

The trial before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning began Wednesday. The prosecution is expected to rest on Monday.

The final witness called in the commonwealth’s case on Friday was lead detective Bryan Sellers of the Pittsburgh police.

He described for the jury of four women and eight men the search of Mr. Pehlivan’s home the evening of May 15. It was there, he said, that he found the torn, dirty T-shirt on a shelf in the master bedroom.

The defense stipulated that it matched the piece of cloth the alleged victim tore from the man who fled her apartment.

During cross-examination, Detective Sellers confirmed that the torn T-shirt had not been thrown away and was left out in plain sight, and that Mr. Pehlivan was cooperative with officers throughout the investigation.

Detective Sellers also narrated video surveillance obtained from cameras along East Carson Street showing Mr. Pehlivan driving along the street, pulling over, turning his vehicle off and then back on as the women passed him on their way from Kopy’s to get pizza.

The detective noted that at no point did any of the women acknowledge Mr. Pehlivan.

Mr. Pehlivan eventually drove to the 1700 block of East Carson Street, staying there for about five minutes as the women got into their vehicle — parked on 18th Street — and eventually pulled out. Detective Sellers testified that Mr. Pehlivan had a “sight line” to the women.

The silver BMW, driven by the defendant, turned onto South 18th Street at 12:49 a.m.

The women testified that they then drove home. The alleged attack was reported to 911 at 1:42 a.m.

Also Friday, during his examination of witnesses, Mr. Pehlivan’s lawyer raised the prospect that the alleged victim and her roommates were out to get money from his client.

Following the May incident, one of the roommates created an online GoFundMe page to raise money for moving expenses and a new security deposit, and she texted the alleged victim about Mr. Pehlivan, saying, “We’re going to get him for all he’s got.”

When asked by defense attorney Lee Rothman if she wrote that message about Mr. Pehlivan, the roommate said, “Yes, I was angry.”

The next message, though, which Allegheny County Assistant District Attorney Ed Scheid asked the roommate to read, was: “We’re getting him on rape, breaking and entering and emotional damage.”

“At any time, were you and [the alleged victim] trying to get some money from him?” the prosecutor asked. “No.”

The GoFundMe account, the roommate said, collected about $1,700 and included the explanation, “We do not feel safe returning to the house because whoever did this has still not been caught.”

On Thursday, the alleged victim testified that she and her roommates ultimately moved out over safety concerns.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette does not name alleged sexual assault victims.