Former Elyria bar owner in prison after sexual assault plea (UPDATED)

This story has been edited to reflect the following correction: Eddie Sabbah no longer owns Eddie's Club. A former Elyria bar owner has been sent to prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a teenage girl more than two years ago. Eddie Sabbah, 59, of Walnut Street, was sentenced to three years in prison on sexual battery and gross sexual imposition charges by Judge John Miraldi in Lorain County Common Pleas Court earlier this month. Sabbah pleaded guilty Nov. 1 and was sentenced Dec. 5. Miraldi gave him until Dec. 12 to surrender at the Lorain County Jail to begin serving the prison term. Miraldi also labeled Sabbah a Tier III sex offender, which means Sabbah will be required by law to register his address in person with his local sheriff's office every 90 days for the rest of his life upon release from prison. Sabbah's earliest release date is in December 2025, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Following an Elyria Police Department investigation, a Lorain County grand jury indicted Sabbah in May 2021 on charges he raped and molested a 17-year-old girl at a private residence in Elyria in September 2020. Elyria police said the victim was an acquaintance of Sabbah. Sabbah used to own of Eddie's Club on Lowell Street in Elyria. He sold the property to James Thorne for $225,000 in August, according to Lorain County Auditor's records. Police said the crime had nothing to do with the club. A trial on the original rape and gross sexual imposition charges had been scheduled to start in Miraldi's courtroom on Nov. 1.