The former owner of Jura's Pizza Parlor in Oakdale and namesake of the Turlock restaurant was arrested on Monday for a sexual assault incident that occurred at the now closed Oakdale location in September.
Jura Aghassi, 59, of Turlock, was booked into Stanislaus County Jail by Oakdale Police investigators on Monday after a month-long investigation into allegations by an adult female employee of a forced sexual assault at Jura’s Pizza on North Yosemite Ave., in Oakdale.
Investigators said the incident was brought to their attention the day after the incident allegedly took place in the evening hours of Sept. 14.
In the course of the investigation, Oakdale officers and detectives interviewed other individuals who worked at the establishment.
“We’ve interviewed the other employees, and as of yet we don’t have any other victims,” said Officer Aaron Beattie.
Aghassi was also interviewed and, according to police, denied that the incident even occurred.
On Sept. 25 police served a search warrant at Aghassi’s residence in Turlock.
Evidence from that search and the investigation was forwarded to the Ceres Police High Tech Crimes Unit for analysis.
Police declined to state what the evidence was until the matter goes to court.
A week after the investigation was initiated by police, Aghassi closed the Oakdale business.
The business’s Facebook site has a post dated Sept. 22, 2014 which states, “Thank you to our loyal Oakdale customers for supporting us the past few months. Unfortunately business was just too slow and we had to shut down. We will let everyone know if we will have another location opening but for now make sure to get your pizza and hot wing fix at Jura's Pizza in Turlock.”
Jura’s Pizza in Turlock has been in business since 1979, and is currently owned by Papiola Aghassi, Jura Aghassi's sister. The Oakdale location opened in April this year.
On Oct. 20 police obtained a probable cause warrant for Aghassi’s arrest charging him with felony counts of forced oral copulation, sexual battery, and rape with a foreign object.
Officer Beattie said Aghassi was contacted at the Turlock restaurant at 1:50 p.m. where he surrendered to authorities. He was later booked into Stanislaus County Jail and is being held on $200,000 bail.
