The owner of Tally’s Good Food Cafe in Tulsa pleaded guilty to six counts of felony larceny on Thursday, and he will be sentenced next month.
Fox23 in Tulsa reported it is a blind plea, which means he is pleading guilty to the charges without the benefit of a plea deal. It gives the judge full discretion to a wide range of sentences.
The pleas came months after Tally Alame claimed on a Tulsa radio show his arrest and charges against him were “an honest mistake.”
Alame was accused last summer of shoplifting thousands of dollars in food from area Sam’s Clubs a total of 31 times in 2022 and 2023.
According to detectives, Alame pushed a flatbed through the store, selected bulk items and used the Scan & Go app option, which makes checking out more convenient and allows shoppers to pay through the app. Sam’s Club investigators said Alame did not scan all of the items before leaving.
The total worth of the stolen items was about $7,700,
Alame, a Lebanese immigrant who fled from that country’s civil war in 1979, cut his teeth in the restaurant business by first working at Jamil’s Steakhouse, another Tulsa dining institution.
In 1987, he bought a restaurant on Route 66 in Tulsa, expanded it and added a second location in town.
In addition to being one of the go-to places for Route 66 travelers after the University of Tulsa closed the Metro Diner in 2006 and tore it down, he’s served a free Thanksgiving dinner at the restaurant for anyone who shows up.
(Nighttime image of Tally’s Good Food Cafe in Tulsa by Sam Paradise via Flickr)