Popular Cleveland entrepreneur facing charges of attempted murder, rape

CLEVELAND (Scripps News Cleveland/Court TV) — A well-known Cleveland entrepreneur is facing multiple charges, including rape and kidnapping.

An arrest warrant was issued for Bobby George, who owns three popular restaurants in Cleveland. He turned himself in and a bond was set at $200,000.

According to Cleveland Municipal Court records, the warrant was issued on the following charges: one count of attempted murder, one count of rape, four counts of kidnapping, one count of felonious assault, and two counts of strangulation. All the charges are felonies.

Bobby George is seen inside a restaurant. (Scripps News Cleveland)

Records state that the alleged events happened between Nov. 14, 2023, and July 31, 2024. The alleged assaults were reported on Aug. 9.

On Nov. 14, 2023, George is accused of pinning a woman to the ground, strangling her and slamming her head into the ground multiple times, resulting in post-concussion syndrome.

Between Nov. 1, 2023, and May 1, 2024, George allegedly followed a woman out to her car, demanded she exit the vehicle and held a gun to the window to “encourage her to exit the vehicle.” Once she got out of the car, he put the gun to her stomach and escorted her back inside the home she fled, records state.

Between June 8-10, George allegedly tried to kill a woman by “shoving a towel down the victim’s throat and stating ‘You think God is going to help you?’ while she was attempting to pray in the closet that she would not die.” Furthermore, he refused to let the woman leave the residence and strangled and assaulted her.

Sometime between May 1 and July 31, he allegedly sexually assaulted a woman who had just gotten out of the shower.

On July 27, he allegedly threw a woman in a closet when she was trying to leave the residence.

George agreed to a temporary protection order during his arraignment.

George’s attorney responds

“If his last name was Smith, we wouldn’t be talking. Okay? The Georges are obviously people of interest in our community,” criminal defense attorney Kevin Spellacy said.

Spellacy confirmed with Scripps News Cleveland that he is representing George in this case.

He said George was not only caught off guard by the allegations but mortified.

Spellacy said George’s connection to the victim is that they were in a relationship.

“I just don’t understand how something like this could happen where someone doesn’t come and knock on your door. I’ve represented professional athletes. I’ve represented professional people and I don’t understand… It’s not like you woke up and somebody said, ‘Hey, police were at their house last night and Bobby and so-and-so were there and she has a black eye,'” Spellacy stated. “And police go, ‘What happened?’ ‘He punched me.’ Okay, then you arrest him. Right?”

Spellacy said law enforcement should have asked the victim more questions and claims they failed to do so.

“It’s 101 to me. I think the last name made a difference in this instance,” he added.

Spellacy claims there is video proof showing after the July 27 allegation, the victim was hanging out with George again for about a week.

“In this instance, Mr. George is being treated extremely unfairly by an incompetent City of Cleveland law department with a lack of investigation. They didn’t do their homework,” Spellacy explained.

Spellacy said the case appeared before a Cuyahoga County judge on Friday, where he was allegedly first charged with murder.

“They charged him with murder which is ridiculous. It should be attempted murder if you want to believe anything the young person had to say. They couldn’t even get that right. A second grader does better than they did in this instance, but whatever,” Spellacy stated.

The charge as of Monday night does read attempted murder.

“They changed it because I had to educate them in the last 24 hours,” Spellacy said.

“This is how bad they are — we’ve been trying for a day to do that. They don’t even understand how to do that. I’ve done this over 35 years, probably 200 times, but the new crew I’m dealing with have no idea what they’re doing. Eventually, yes, we’ll turn him in,” Spellacy said. “I tried all day today. I’ll try again tomorrow. That’s our plan.”

Spellacy said he called the detective who issued the charges, and he was allegedly told to call the clerk of courts.

“I mean, really? Not in my lifetime has that happened. Usually the detective says to me, ‘Yes, thank you, Mr. Spellacy. Bring him to my office and I’ll have him processed. Bring him to the Third District. Bring him to the First District. Bring him to the Second District; we’ll process him,'” Spellacy said. “That’s not how this works.”

The City of Cleveland’s Law Director released the following statement to Scripps News Cleveland:

This case was investigated by the Division of Police’s Domestic Violence Unit and was handled the same way that similar cases are handled every single day. Information is gathered, evidence is presented to the prosecutor, and an objective decision is made solely based on the facts. This is a case that involves multiple incidents, and, in this instance, several pieces of evidence were obtained before a charging decision was made. It’s imperative for the public to know that this case was treated according to standard protocols like any other case — regardless of the defendant’s name, title, or occupation. The investigation remains ongoing.

This story was originally published by Scripps News Cleveland, an E.W. Scripps Company.