OKLAHOMA CITY– Some local baseball families are pleading to get their money back after the owner of a baseball club has allegedly stopped contacting them.
“He’s not just stealing from the parents. He’s stealing from the kids and their lifetime experiences,” said Jayme Hopson, who says she is owed nearly $1,300.
Hopson has spent many hot summers watching her son play baseball. Last fall, she and her husband paid for him to join Midwest Elite Baseball Club. But the family found out in January that they would be moving to Dallas.
Since then, they say they’ve been jumping through hoops to get Tom Scholl, the founder of the club, to pay them back as promised in their contract.
After a month of waiting, the family took to social media.
“It’s bigger than our $1,275,” Hopson said. “Other people have contacted us with lots and lots of information.”
Many of those people are also claiming that they are owed money from Scholl. Erin Singh is one of those parents, who didn’t hear from Scholl after paying her son’s fees.
“I wasn’t worried at that point until it was about two months of no communication that I decided to back out of being on the team,” said Singh.
Singh said she never got her money back from Scholl. Instead, her credit card company reimbursed her.
“I’m a pretty skeptical person so for me to get scammed, I feel pretty dumb. I don’t know. I don’t know how you would prevent something like this,” Singh said.
News 4 tried calling Scholl to hear his side of the story and even stopped by his house. But he drove off when he saw us.
“It’s a really bad feeling. It’s just something that I never thought would happen to me or my husband,” Hopson said.
Singh said she has filed a police report against Scholl. Now Hopson and her family are thinking about doing the same.
Shortly before our report aired on Wednesday evening, both mothers said they were contacted by Scholl, who told them their reimbursements are pending, but on the way.