New Video Shares Terrifying Stories of Drugging and Pickpocketing at The Abbey WeHo

Days before The Abbey Food and Bar is set to celebrate its 3rd annual Abbey Day celebration on  Tuesday, May 23rd, Stephanie Sical, host at BobbyDee presents, and former radio personality, posted a video on her YouTube channel yesterday flatly stating that “The Abbey bar/restaurant in West Hollywood is known for spiking drinks and pickpocketing.” In the video she shares footage of individuals who claim they were roofied and robbed at the bar, one person claiming she was robbed multiple times.

Sical says, “There have been shocking amounts of countless people speaking out about this bar/restaurant in West Hollywood called ‘The Abbey‘ urging women and anyone in general NOT to go there because the bartenders and staff have been drugging, pickpocketing and doing other horrific experiences to these people at this restaurant.”

Among the shares is a blogger recounts a time when she says she believes she and her friend were roofied at The Abbey and robbed. She claims it was a bartender who spiked her drink which resulted in her and her friend blacking out. Her phone and jacket were stolen and she had to rely on the kindness of strangers to get an Uber home.

Xavier Madera claims he took a few sips of a drink and then he came to at Cedars Sinai the following day without any memory of what happened before. “It sucked,” he said. “If you only drink half of the drink and not even the whole drink and something happens, something is wrong, because I can drink more than that so that’s how I knew.

Barbie, a VIP host and drag queen entertainer at The Abbey is featured in the video, says The Abbey handles these situations to the best of their abilities and that there could be dangerous moments in the nightlife scene as well as dangerous people, whether it be to steal purses, phones or to drug people. “You can’t predict those moments, you can only handle them once they happen,” she said “Of course, the business takes a lot of blame when it happens. I feel like from what I’ve heard, as far as The Abbey, they handle things the best way that they can.”

Three other individuals are featured sharing similar experiences at the popular nightclub venue.

The 6:37 video is featured below:

In a statement released in the summer of 2021 after a woman named Healy White made similar accusations alleging she was drugged by a bartender employed at the Abbey, the Abbey WeHo broke down the measures it takes to keep its customers safe:

“For 30 years, The Abbey has been a place where people come to have a good time. We work hard to provide a safe environment where people can enjoy cocktails and have a great high-energy experience. Tens of thousands of people visit The Abbey every year. We cherish our role as a community center for West Hollywood and safe space for the LGBTQ+ Community. We are also a restaurant, bakery and nightlife venue, like many other nightlife venues around the country.

We have been doing our part to make our unique nightlife experience as safe as possible for three decades. We have more security guards than any other venue in the area, including plain clothed security, highly visible security, and armed security.
We have regular training for our staff on alcohol service, natural emergencies, medical emergencies, active shooter scenarios, and more.
Our security team is well trained, many of which are former military and law enforcement. Our bartenders and servers attend regular ABC and City of West Hollywood Training for proper alcohol service.

We have an extensive network of cameras throughout our venues, including body cameras on our security guards. We do a lot to keep people safe, but guests need to do their part.
Every night we see people leave cell phones or valuables on a table and walk away. Our management, security and service staff are all trained to remind people to take their valuables with them, put them in their front pockets and to remain aware of their surroundings.

Our service staff are trained to follow state and local laws for alcohol consumption. They do not serve people who have visibly over consumed. We check IDs at the main gate, at bars and tables. We have security cameras over every bar station and see every drink that is made. When we see intoxicated guests leaving the venue together, we ask to make sure they are supposed to be leaving together. When we see over intoxicated guests in the venue, we escort them out and help them secure a safe ride home. We do a lot to mitigate over consumption but not all of our visitors take responsibility for their part. For some people, 1 drink is more than enough. Ultimately, it is up to individuals to know their limits.

We have seen allegations online where someone will claim, ‘I only had 1 drink and I should not have been that drunk.’ When we see an allegation like that online, whether they have contacted us directly or not, we open our own investigation immediately.

While every situation is different, we often find evidence contrary to stories shared on social media. We try to be as respectful as possible to people who think they have been a victim by not publicly contradicting them and asking them to file a police report for a formal investigation.

When we open an internal investigation, we look at someone’s digital and social media footprint first. Often, we will see on Instagram, that person who “only had 1 drink” was at several spots before or after The Abbey, with just 1 drink in their hand at each spot. Once we have their name or can ID them, we check for credit card transactions and might see that multiple drinks were put on their card. Based on their check, we can see each drink they ordered and when they ordered it. None of that necessarily means that they had each drink. Then we align the time of the credit card transactions with our security footage, and we can literally piece together their journey throughout the venue from the first appearance on a bodycam at the front door. That is a time intensive process, but we do it. Often, we don’t need to get far to see the allegations online are not true. Again, it is not our job to publicly shame people who believe they are victims. Anyone who believes they are a victim of a crime should report it to the police.

People often want us to share video footage with them. We can’t release footage to the public, for a variety of reasons, including privacy. We can release it to law enforcement. If we see a crime committed on camera, we report it ourselves and share the footage with the police. Anyone who believes they are a victim of a crime should report it to the police.
It requires no evidence to make an online allegation which amounts to defamation. It doesn’t have to be true to be damaging to a reputation. Often, we find out about incidents because someone has gone to social media before us or law enforcement. When we see it, we immediately message the person directly to attempt to identify them in our records and direct them to file a report with law enforcement. Many don’t ever file a report but continue to share their story on social media as it is content that gets a high level of engagement, increasing likes and follower counts.

Alleged victims will often start searching online to find evidence that reinforces their claims. Previous lawsuits or allegations will come up. In our over 30 years of operation, local law enforcement has never found any credible evidence to support allegations of date rape drugs. People can confuse being overly intoxicated from alcohol with something else. Over consuming alcohol can create gaps in memory which might lead to a false narrative. Law enforcement has found evidence of our guests mixing drugs and alcohol on their own.

We won’t discuss specific lawsuits, but we can speak about them in general terms. Filing a civil lawsuit is usually a demand for payment. Settling a lawsuit does not necessarily indicate any wrongdoing and is most often a calculation made by insurance companies.
Starting today, we will begin filing our own defamation lawsuits against people who make online claims that are contradicted by our security footage and investigations by law enforcement.

We understand it is easier to say to yourself, “somebody must have done this to me,” rather than accept responsibility for your own actions. Until today, we did not think it was our job to publicly refute someone’s claims. It is our job to investigate the claim and direct them to law enforcement to file a report. We do both of those things.

We want people to have a good time and we want people to be safe. We also want our guests to be aware of their choices, their surroundings and their limits.”

In the case of Healy White, she was shown video footage that follows her every move the moment she entered the Abbey and there was no evidence found that she had been drugged by an Abbey employee. She eventually apologized, “I now believe that what happened to me that night was not the fault of The Abbey or their staff,” she posted on her Instagram account. “I also want to apologize to everyone to the extent some of my statements were inaccurate in any way. I apologize to any Abbey employees who’ve been negatively impacted or threatened in the wake of my comments.”

she later reiterated that she had been drugged at The Abbey, which resulted in a lawsuit for defamation that was eventually tossed by a judge.

It is not yet clear if Stephanie Sical reached out to The Abbey for comment as of the posting of her video.