Bettie Lois Cain pleaded guilty Jan. 8 to grand theft auto and four counts of writing bad checks for renting property on closed bank accounts for a defunct business she ran in North Park.
Cain, 67, of Normal Heights, 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.
Sentencing is set for Feb. 26 before San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles Gill. Cain faces a maximum term of four years and eight months in state prison, according to court records.
Cain posted $85,000 bond after five felony counts were filed against her last April. A second case was filed against her for writing checks with insufficient funds for more rental property. Records say Cain deposited a counterfeit check in her bank account that closed her account.
The total loss to all victims as part of her guilty pleas comes to $13,531.66, according to court records.
Cain rented a vacation property for three weeks for $1,533 and wrote a business check with a closed bank account. She was sued for unlawful detainer. In her guilty plea, she admitted to writing a check for $4,058.66 to Vespa Motorsport with another defunct business check that bounced.
She opened Just A Cuppa Coffee in 2000 on 30th Street, but workers complained she didn’t pay them before the business abruptly closed. Local gay artists had paintings on the walls that were for sale, and those paintings vanished. A review on Yelp makes the same accusation about workers not being paid in Cain’s nursery and gardening business in 2011.
Her last prison sentence, 16 months, was imposed in 2007 for auto theft and forgery. Cain remains free on $85,000 bond with the condition that she cannot write checks. She has prior convictions for grand larceny, grand theft, and fraud.
