Reporters around the Bay are trying to dig up whatever they can to continue reporting on the murder of tech entrepreneur Bob Lee, and the latest tidbits came from Emeryville police.
The Chronicle got the records of 38-year-old Nima Momeni's interactions with the Emeryville Police Department over the last few years. They found that last summer, police were called to Momeni's loft one afternoon by a woman who claimed to have been roughed up by Momeni, and needed help.
According to the police report, she said that Momeni "grabbed her arm & pulled it, pushed her physically." This all happened around 3 p.m. on August 1, 2022. Police came to the unit within seven minutes of the call, and stayed with the woman while she called for transportation and gathered her things.
Momeni was cited for domestic battery and released, and after police presented their case a few days later, the Alameda County DA's office declined to file charges.
Last week we learned that Momeni had a non-violent record in Alameda County that included an incident involving a knife — apparently the illegal sale of a switchblade — and driving on a suspended license, and a DUI in 2004, when he would have been around 19 years old.
The Chronicle also found a record of Momeni reporting his white BMW — the one allegedly involved in Lee's April 4 murder — being vandalized last October. They also had a record of someone in his unit reporting a case of identity theft, however that was in 2019, and we learned late last week that Momeni has only owned his condo in Emeryville since 2020.
Momeni's attorney, Paula Canny, has been in Europe on vacation, and she is scheduled to return and represent him at his arraignment, which is scheduled for Tuesday, April 25. She said last week that "there's a much greater backstory than is disclosed at all in the government's pleading," and that she does not believe this is a first-degree murder case.
Previously: Details Emerge About Murder Suspect Nima Momeni's Motive, and Footage of Stabbing