Man pleads not guilty in hate-crime case

A Costa Mesa man appeared in court Wednesday to face charges connected to a racially charged attack at a local coffee shop in May.

Anthony Tabarsi, 41, also a registered sex offender, pleaded not guilty to one charge of felony assault with a deadly weapon, resisting an officer, and hate-crime enhancements, prosecutors said.

Costa Mesa police arrested Tabarsi on April 16 after he allegedly pulled a knife on a man at a Starbucks on Harbor Boulevard. Upon entering the coffee shop, Tabarsi, passed a group of men speaking Arabic. He then turned toward the men and starting making fun of the language, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Tabarsi told one of the men that all Arab people are terrorists and then used racial slurs and expletives to say that he hates the culture. He is accused of then challenging the man to a fight outside of the shop and pulling a pocket knife on him.

After the man’s friends held him back, Tabarsi ran and was later found by police at a nearby bus stop. Police had to use a Taser on him, as he would not follow their orders to take his hands out of his pockets as he walked toward officers, prosecutors said.

The attack marked Tabarsi’s second run-in with police since March, when he led officers on a pursuit following two alleged dine-and-dashes in the same day. After the second unpaid bill at a Denny’s restaurant on Bristol Street, police pursued Tabarsi but quickly gave up the chase, not wanting to put the public in danger over a small dinner bill.

About two weeks later, at 2:30 a.m., police received a call about a disturbance at the Q Club & Cafe, at 1525 Mesa Verde Drive. There officers found an intoxicated man calling himself King Anthony and challenging the crowd to a fight, police said.

The man, later identified as Tabarsi, was arrested on suspicion of public drunkenness and failure to register as a sexual offender, police said. In that case, Tabarsi was charged with two counts of second-degree commercial burglary, two counts of defrauding an innkeeper, and evading authorities while driving recklessly. He was also charged with failure to register as a sex offender in connection with his 1998 convictions for rape, penetration by a foreign object and molestation of a child under 14.

If convicted in either case, Tabarsi could be sentenced to life in prison under the three-strikes law, prosecutors said.