Star Market owners in North Nashville settle criminal case

The owners of Star Market are considering reopening their business after striking a deal with prosecutors that includes declaring their North Nashville store a public nuisance.

Police locked down Star Square in June as prosecutors alleged the Buchanan Street square was a hotbed of crime, fighting and drug dealing.

In addition, prosecutors said Star Market owners Bolis Boktor and Basem Farag ran a criminal operation at another store they owned on Clarksville Pike. The men pleaded guilty to the charges against them on Thursday, but will not serve time in prison.

Star Market can reopen, DA’s office says

As part of their plea deal with prosecutors, Boktor and Farag admitted Star Market was a public nuisance and agreed to “abate the nuisance.”

“In other words, they promise to abide by all the terms of this order and, to the best of their ability, not to allow any resumption of fighting, robbery, drug dealing, shootings, etc. which led to the filing of this petition. first and foremost,” Assistant District Attorney Paul DeWitt told Judge Steve Dozier Thursday.

DeWitt said the men plan to reopen the store in either the same or a similar form, with the understanding that they must abide by the agreement they reached with the DA’s office and operate under close police supervision. If criminal activity resumes on the market, prosecutors plan to ask a court to order the asset sold at public auction, according to lawyers.

“They’re walking a fine line if they should tolerate any resumption of this type of activity,” DeWitt said once court proceedings ended Thursday.

After police closed the store in June, they said officers had responded to the store more than 400 times in the past five years for gun violence, assault and other crimes.

Police Chief John Drake said police met with the store’s owners in August 2022 to encourage them to intervene in crimes in and around the business, but were unsuccessful.

The owners plead guilty to operating another store

According to DeWitt, police found evidence that owners Boktor and Farag oversaw a bootlegging market where they bought stolen goods for pennies on the dollar and sold them at F&B Mart, the store they owned on Clarksville Pike. The F&B Mart was not shut down by the state and remains open.

As part of a settlement agreement reached in court Thursday morning, Boktor and Farag are writing checks to the police department and Kroger, CVS and Lowe’s, where prosecutors say the thieves stole goods to resell at the F&B Mart.

Boktor and Farag pleaded guilty Thursday to two of the three criminal charges against them, while each of their money-laundering charges, the most serious they faced, was dropped. The men agreed to serve two years of diversion — a sentence similar to probation except the charges are dropped once it ends — for attempted property theft and organized retail crime charges.

“Remember, the police department gets over $440,000 from these two guys. They get $341,000 that was blocked in a bank account that was basically used for money laundering, and they get $100,000, which is their cost for the entire investigation.” DeWitt said. “I don’t think the defendants are coming out ahead on this at all. I think the police department, but more importantly, the community comes out ahead in this.”

Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him at [email protected] or follow X, formerly known as Twitter, @EvanMe a licking.