Sisters accused of storming Strip penthouse to attack man; charges dropped
Prosecutors agreed to drop felony charges Thursday against four Utah sisters accused of storming into a penthouse suite at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and attacking one woman’s estranged husband and his girlfriend with fists and high-heeled shoes.
Tajila Mullahkhel, 31, Saeida Mullahkhel, 30, Nagras Mullahkhel, 36, and Shakeela Mullahkhel, 34, turned heads as they walked into Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Melisa De La Garza’s courtroom together. The group snapped cellphone pictures and captured video before a marshal asked them to wait in the hallway for their case to be called.
Moments later, they returned with their lawyer, Chris Rasmussen, and Deputy District Attorney Bryan Schwartz immediately told the judge that he was dropping charges of burglary, battery and conspiracy.
“This was a private family matter that was handled internally,” Rasmussen told a reporter. “We are satisfied their case was dismissed.”
In March, Hosam Al-Baderi told police he was in bed sleeping with Joslin Lopez when his ex-wife, Tajila Mullahkhel, and her sisters burst into their room, according to a police report.
“All four females began to hit him with closed fists and scratch him,” the report said. “They then attacked his girlfriend Lopez by hitting her with closed fists and hit her with their shoes.”
Lopez’s hair was pulled out, and she had scratch marks on her arms and legs from the heels. Al-Baderi suffered a swollen eye and scratches, the report said.
“He had no idea how his ex-wife found his location or how she got up to his room. He said he usually stays in a specific penthouse. This trip he changed the room so his ex-wife could not locate him.”
A Cosmopolitan worker who recognized Tajila Mullahkhel had directed her to the 75th floor, the report said.
Al-Baderi told police that the two had been separated “for some time,” and she recently learned of his relationship with Lopez and “has been extremely upset.”
Neither Al-Baderi nor Lopez showed up for what was scheduled as a preliminary hearing, where a judge decides whether prosecutors had enough evidence to present the case to a jury.
The prosecutor cited a Nevada law that would allow him to refile charges should Al-Baderi and Lopez step forward within a year.
Later, in the hallway on the seventh floor of the Regional Justice Center, the four posed as Rasmussen took their photo near a bank of elevators.
Nearby, a security officer who expected to testify during the preliminary hearing shook his head.
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Rio Lacanlale contributed to this report.