Ashli Ford's attorney sounds like Elsebeth Baumgartner

Pattakos says prosecuting her for forgery is about retaliation, not identity theft or loan fraud

SANDUSKY — Three different stories have emerged from Ashli Ford’s camp so far about how she managed to land a $30,000 federal loan in 2020 to save her house from foreclosure.

None of them match up.

Prosecutors say Ford simply forged her ex-husband’s name on the application, claiming to still be married even though she had already remarried. That’s the version a handwriting expert backed up — and it’s the version at the center of the criminal case against her.

But Ford and her supporters have offered some shifting explanations.

The first came directly from Ford in a Facebook video she recorded just before her July 25 arrest on forgery and loan fraud charges.

“Apparently last week my ex-husband was brought in and scared into saying that something didn’t happen that did,” she said, suggesting prosecutors pressured him to lie.

The second surfaced on social media, from an account using the fictitious name “Jeff Logan.” It’s a Facebook account dedicated to defending Ashli Ford and attacking her critics. That post insisted the signature wasn’t forged at all — just sloppy.