SAN DIEGO — Bettie Lois Cain has been sentenced to two years in jail for grand theft auto and four counts of writing bad checks for renting property on closed bank accounts from a defunct business she ran in North Park.
Cain, 68, of Normal Heights, will be serving her sentence in the Las Colinas Women’s Detention Facility in Santee instead of state prison as the crime was considered not violent. State legislation has passed that allows judges to sentence inmates to local jails to cut down on prison overcrowding.
The sheriff’s department gave a projected release date of Feb. 26, 2015. She received credit for already serving 88 days. Probation was denied because of her long history of committing fraud.
San Diego Superior Court Judge Charles Gill ordered Cain to pay $4,058.66 to Vespa Motorsports and $295 to Encinitas Ford. The total bills for other victims were not final and more restitution orders are expected.
Deputy District Attorney Ted Fiorito urged a 3-year prison term while the probation department recommended a term of two years and eight months. She was fined $683.
Her attorney, James Pokorny, recommended an 8-month sentence. Pokorny said there were indications that her breast cancer which is now in remission may be returning.
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. She could have received a maximum term of four years and eight months in prison.
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.
The total loss to all victims as part of her guilty pleas in these two cases comes to $13,531.66. Cain deposited a counterfeit check in her bank account which then closed, according to court records. Cain rented a vacation property with a bad check.
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, but those paintings vanished. The same accusation came about workers not being paid in Cain’s nursery and gardening business in 2011 before it closed.
