Cincinnati Man Charged With Stealing Bar Claims He's The True Owner; Accuses Alleged Victim Of Forging His Name On Papers To Illegally Transfer Title

In Cincinnati, Ohio, The Cincinnati Enquirer reports:

• A 40-year-old man was charged Tuesday with deceiving the owner of the East End Café to sign the deed over to him, Cincinnati police said. John Yeager of Sycamore Township was booked into the Hamilton County jail on charges of theft, breaking and entering, and securing writings by deception, court records show. The property, located in the 4000 block of Eastern Avenue, is worth $310,000, court records state.

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• Yeager says none of the allegations are true. He says that he bought the café in 2002 and was working out a deal to rent it to the alleged victim. Instead, that man created a false deed with Yeager’s forged signature and stole the property, he said. “I’m still the owner,” he said. “I’m not a con artist; the property was taken from me. I have all this paperwork showing that the numbers don’t add up.”

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• On Wednesday, Yeager was released early in lieu of $7,000 bond. He is now working with attorneys to bring the matter to rest, he said. “They have two options: they can pay me what they owe me or they can give me the bar back,” he said.

For the story, see Man charged: 'I am not a con artist.' TheftOfDeedMeta