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In this March, 26, 2014, file photo, Mayor Rob Ford, left, listens to his brother and campaign manager Doug Ford, right, during a commercial break as Rob Ford takes part in a live television mayoral debate in Toronto. Rob Ford's lawyer said Wednesday, April 30, 2014, that the Toronto mayor will take a leave of absence to seek help for substance abuse.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press/The Associated Press

Tim Hortons has confirmed it was Doug Ford who attended a Toronto location of the restaurant earlier this week, and not the mayor as reports have claimed.

The move was in response to reports of a possible sighting of the mayor at a west-end location of Tim Hortons on Tuesday morning. Councillor Doug Ford later told reporters it was him at the restaurant, not Mayor Ford, who has stated he is in rehab to deal with his "problem with alcohol."

Tim Hortons spokeswoman Michelle Robichaud backed Councillor Ford's version of events Thursday, saying the company has conducted an investigation into the matter.

"We can confirm through an internal review of the surveillance footage that it was Doug Ford in our restaurant on Tuesday," she wrote in a statement.

"Again, Doug Ford was right," the councillor said Thursday evening after Tim Hortons' statement. "That's good. I love Timmies. I'm a Tim Hortons guy."

The exact whereabouts of the mayor remains a mystery. Last week, Rob Ford announced that he was taking an unspecified length of time off to "seek immediate help." This followed reports in The Globe and Mail about a second drug video featuring the mayor, as well as an audio tape obtained by the Toronto Sun that reportedly caught the mayor using lewd language to describe mayoral rival Karen Stintz.

Since then, his brother and lawyer have been tight-lipped about where he is getting help, leading some councillors to speculate about the sincerity of the mayor's claim.

Those questions intensified after reports of a possible sighting of the mayor at a Tim Hortons location. That sighting was first reported by a young woman on Twitter, who told several media outlets that she watched a man she believed to be Mayor Ford walk into the Tim Hortons in a suit and come out in grey sweats.

The mayor's brother dismissed this report afterwards, calling it a case of mistaken identity.

"That was me," said Doug Ford, who shares a family resemblance with the mayor. "That was me at the Junction. That was me that pulled over. I was taking pictures and handing out T-shirts. That was me on my way down here."

With reports from Elizabeth Church

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