Buzz Over Justin Bieber: Was He the Father of Baby Born in La Mesa?

Was Justin Bieber the father of a boy born at Sharp Grossmont Hospital on July 6?

That’s the buzz of the blogs and entertainment sites as news media try to sort out conflicting claims and documents about the teen singer’s possible progeny.

According to a San Diego County birth certificate obtained by La Mesa Patch, Tristyn Anthony Markhouse Yeater was born at the La Mesa hospital to Mariah Laci Yeater two days after the Fourth of July.

The mother, now 20, filed a paternity suit (attached) in South Bay Superior Court on Oct. 30 alleging that Bieber, now 17, fathered her baby at a Los Angeles concert. She wants him to undergo testing to prove paternity and “provide adequate child support for my baby.”

However, TMZ is reporting that Mariah Yeater also accused her former high school boyfriend in Las Vegas of being the baby’s father.

The boyfriend was identified as John Terranova in a TMZ report quoting Frances Lippe, the boy’s grandmother.

“Lippe says Yeater came to their home in December 2010 and told Terranova she was pregnant with his child,” TMZ said. “He insisted he did not get her pregnant. 

The two got into an argument and police were called ... because Yeater allegedly broke a car window out of rage.”

For his part, Bieber told TMZ in a phone interview Friday: “Wow, that’s crazy, man. I just know that there are people who will make stuff up. It’s just about staying strong and [knowing] what’s important in life.”

The allegations are crazy, “100% untrue,” Bieber said. “I’m just trying to tell people about my new Christmas album. It’s the first time something like this has ever happened. I’m sure it won’t be the last.”

Audio of the inteview had Bieber saying: “It’s weird that people automatically assume that it is true.  There’s no truth behind this at all. …  It comes with the territory.”

Sharp Grossmont spokesman Bruce Hartman says the hospital is bound by state privacy laws and can’t confirm details of a patient without their consent.

But he said the baby would have been born in a labor/delivery suite of the Women’s Center on the ground floor the complex.

“We haven’t gotten too many calls about [the Bieber rumor],” Hartman said Friday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department made available a photo of Yeater, the woman at the center of the case.

“Attached is the requested booking photo for Mariah Laci Yeater, date of birth: 09/05/1991. The date of the booking photo is 12/21/2010. The charges for which she was arrested are Battery Domestic Violence, Injury/Destroying Property of another and, Threatening Telephone Calls,” said police Sgt. Jack Clements in email to La Mesa Patch.

In an interview posted on DrDrew.com, San Diego lawyers Matt Pare and Lance Rogers say they are representing Yeater in her paternity suit.

“In the relevant time period, she wasn’t having sex with anyone else,” Pare is quoted as saying. “That's how we know Justin Bieber is, in fact, the father of the baby. ... We need the paternity test to verify that scientifically, 100%. It is a modest request. We’re not asking for an exorbitant amount of money. We need him to step up and take the test.”

Pare also is quoted as saying: “If Justin Bieber, through his attorneys, would like to contact us and open a dialogue, we would be happy to engage in that. We haven't heard from them whatsoever. At this stage, we are left with no other choice.”

Rogers, whose former office has been besieged by phone calls and directed to search online for his new one, told DrDrew.com:  “It was important for us to make sure we had the details correct and that those details were verified and signed by our client.”

Said Pare: “There's credible evidence that supports he is the father.”

Pare also said statutory rape would not be an issue, despite Bieber’s age at the time—16.

“Here is another thing that’s legally significant,” Pare said. “Under California law, the difference in age is less than three years then it is only a misdemeanor. If that’s the case, she may be on the hook for misdemeanor; $5,000 penalty.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Yeater and her mother, Michelle Yeater, were evicted from the Mountain View Apartments on Winter Gardens Boulevard in Lakeside for failing to pay rent, according to the managers.

Michelle Yeater filed a paternity lawsuit in 1997, said the report, and the paper said: “Details of the case were not immediately available and the man named in the matter could not be reached Thursday.”

The paper said Michelle Yeater sued her former landlords in small claims court, “seeking compensation for furniture and other items left behind, according to apartment manager Lynn Bugawisan.”

U-T reporter Steve Schmidt said Bugawisan’s husband, Ken, “said Mariah Yeater told him before the eviction that she wasn’t sure who the baby’s dad was. He said she did not mention Bieber and told him the father was ‘one of two people in Ocean Beach.’”