Bettie Cain facing charges, again

BY NEAL PUTNAM

SAN DIEGO — Bettie Lois Cain is again facing felony charges after she was accused of renting property and buying a motor scooter after writing checks on a defunct business she ran in North Park.

Cain, 68, of Normal Heights, has pleaded not guilty to grand theft, burglary, and writing checks for insufficient funds on a nursery and gardening business. A June 11 preliminary hearing has been set in San Diego Superior Court.

Cain has a history in North Park with starting coffeehouses or other businesses and not paying some of her employees. She has been sued 35 times in the last 12 years and served several prison terms for forgery and fraud.

Cain’s girlfriend was never implicated in any of the schemes and she is believed to have acted alone. Cain has a record for grand larceny in 1988, forgery in 1997, grand theft in 1998, fraud in 2003, and auto theft in 2007, according to court records.

The recent charges allege she rented a vacation property for three weeks for $1,533 and wrote a business check with a closed bank account. She has been sued for unlawful detainer in this case.

She is also charged with writing a check for $4,058.66 to buy a motor scooter from Vespa Motorsport and using another business check that bounced.

She opened Just A Cuppa Coffee in 2000 on 30^th Street, but workers complained she didn’t pay them before the business abruptly closed. A review on Yelp makes the same accusation about workers not being paid in the nursery and gardening business in 2011.

A warrant was issued for her arrest on Feb. 22. Cain posted $85,000 bond and was allowed to remain free at her April 8 arraignment.