Over the last week, multiple local companies have been approached by an individual claiming to be fundraising for the Huntley Project Football team according to Activities Director Tim Kaczmarek. Kaczmarek stated that the individual was offering promotional, marketing and sponsorship packages to the companies in order to secure funds for football t-shirts.
Shantel Oblander was one of the intended targets and quickly recognized it as a potential scam. According to Oblander the alleged scammer offered sponsorship packages of $300, $500, and $700. “I felt that it was likely a scam from the start because of the way they went about it. The school usually contacts sponsors in person or announces fundraisers on their official sites,” stated Oblander. When asked about school fundraisers Activities Director Kaczmarek stated that the school is not engaged in any such fundraiser.
Yellowstone County News (YCN) was able to join a conference call between the sales representative and a local business they were targeting. The representative called from the number 972-787-0033.
In this conversation the sales rep, Brian Cox, claimed to be with Elite Sports Promos (ESP) based in North Richland Hills, TX. Cox stated that he had a signed agreement with HP Activities Director Tim Kaczmarek to provide promotional services for the Huntley Project High School (HPHS).
When questioned about the validity of their operation, Cox offered to have a supervisor call back as well as present a document containing an agreement between ESP and HPHS. Cox declined to escalate the call to his immediate supervisor while on the phone with YCN. YCN received a call from Joseph Elkhitab about 5 minutes later after Joseph told YCN he sent a PDF document from customerservice@elitesportspromos.com containing what appears to be the digital signature of HPHS Cheer Coach Joey Joseph. The document lists the schools address and phone number with Joey Joseph as the contact. YCN reached out to Joey Joseph who stated, “I was never authorized to sign this agreement on behalf of Huntley Project School nor did I agree to this company that it was in any way give[n} permission… to contact anyone to sponsor this order. This order was never received! I never authorized this company to be paid or in any way did I authorize a fundraising!”
Similar stories have been reported across the country. On April 11, 2024, ABC 17 of Columbia, MO reported that Columbia Public Schools’ (CPS) Battle High School had received calls from community members about ESP soliciting sponsorships for school fundraisers. Upon investigation ABC 17 also received a contract from ESP stating an agreement between the school and ESP for promotional services. This document also contained a digital signature from Battle High Head Cheerleading Coach Sarah Tornez. Interestingly, the contract was dated for the same exact day as HPHS’s alleged contract, March 13, 2024. ABC 17 reported that the CPS requires authorized signers to enter into these agreements and Tornez was not an authorized signer. YCN reached out to CPS schools for an update and spoke with Activities Director David Egan who stated that CPS cheer coach Tornez had indeed signed the document but was never authorized to do so.
In another example, Onslow Chamber of Commerce of Jacksonville, NC stated in a Facebook post on July 17, “Scam Alert: Elite Sports Promo is fraudulently soliciting sponsorships from local businesses, falsely claiming to represent White Oak High School and Onslow County Schools. Over 25 businesses have reportedly been scammed.”
Activities Director Kaczmarek stated in an interview, “Any fundraising that any school activity, program or sport undertakes, [requires approval] of both [Superintendent] Mark Wandle and myself as the activities director, that way we know what is happening [with fundraisers] around the school.” Kaczmarek stated he was able to speak to an ESP sales representative named Brian on Wednesday morning when Kaczmarek relayed to him that Elite Sports Promos does not have the School Districts permission to represent the school. On Tuesday, December 17, HPHS posted an alert on their Facebook page notifying community members that, “The Huntley Project School District has no T-shirt sale phone calls in support of programs. There are some sales for gear with programs, but you will receive a secure link. No people are calling from our school or our program to sell shirts. If you receive any requests for T-shirt, do not donate. If you have any doubts, please call 406-967-2540 and ask for Mr. Kaczmarek or Mr. Wandle, as they will know the current fundraising opportunities being conducted.”
