Rape case under investigation since Dec

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - It's a bizarre crime story about a Buffalo man charged with the repeated rape of a 13-year-old girl held prisoner, but is that all there is to the story?

This man's family has made headlines before. This is the third time in a year we have done a story about a member of the Abdallah family and we know more about how this girl's story came to light.

This whole investigation started in December, when a 1-year-old boy who lived in this house was brought to the hospital with severe burns on his hand. The father, Michael Abdallah, was questioned about it by police and so was the 13-year-old babysitter, who turned out to be a runaway.

A missing persons' report was filed with police early last summer. She told police that the whole time she had been living with Abdallah here on Thomas Street near Metcalf, locked inside the house with deadbolt locks each day, and had sex with Abdallah more than 100 times.

Daniel Zawadzki, who used to live on the street, said, "Disgusting."

People who knew him from the neighborhood are telling News 4 two sides.

"I didn't think he was that kind of a kid," said Zawadzki.

Another woman from the neighborhood ,who didn't want to be identified, said, "He's not that kind of person, he wouldn't do something like that."

But others aren't so sure.

A neighborhood man said, "I'm personally happy that he's outta the neighborhood. I never really liked the dude, I had some problems with him myself."

Michael Abdallah is 26-years-old and up until a few months ago worked at a deli. His sister Etidall was in the news a year ago when she disappeared for five months, but then turned up telling her family she was fine, and staying with a friend.

Their father Salah, owned that deli on Genesee where two firefighetrs were killed in August. But it's up to police now to figure out exactly what was going on inside that house on Thomas Street.

The neighborhood man said, "Constantly people comin' in and out. Constantly. Dude, like four or five dudes going in at a time."

We're told that at times, this girl may have had chances to escape and didn't, but in the eyes of law, she's 13 and it would still be 2nd degree rape. Michael Abdallah is held on a quarter million dollars bail at the holding center.