Jackson Bulldogs youth football team, a little league organization, was hopeful of heading to a big tournament only to find out weeks before, they can't go. That tournament is going to take place in Canton, Ohio.
Parents said they found out that their organization fees weren't paid, and their fundraising money is missing. Parents said those two reasons are why they may not be able to go to Canton.
Parents are trying to answer the question themselves, where did their money go. All while not trying to tell the kids of a possible disappointment. They said they are blaming the program director, Phillip Johnson.
Michelle Little has three grandsons on the team, and her husband is one of the coaches, she said, "they've been told this whole season that we were going to go to Canton Ohio, they were going to see the football hall of fame and we were going to play in a tournament, how do we tell them they can't." Little said she is more than frustrated as the football team worked hard all season in hopes of going to their end of the season tournament.
Tiffany McElroy, a parent, said Johnson didn't tell the parents anything in terms of the team's money. McElroy said she asked Johnson, "why are we donating all this, where is all the money from the concession stands, nobody knew anything because he was the one that always dealt with the money and everything." She said he couldn't give her a straight answer. McElroy said the proof he showed to her looked made-up.
That's when several parents said they started to question Johnson. Johnson moved to the Lansing Football League after not being allowed back into New Level Sports, the organization he was with last year.
Christopher McCoy, the executive director of New Level Sports Ministries is the one who said Johnson's style of coaching didn't align with the organization's mission. McCoy explained, "coaches get competitive and it becomes no longer about children, it becomes completely competitive which can be good and bad, and it brings out the best and worst in a coach and it brought out the worst in him, so that was his last year, first and last year."
Parents said they learned their league fees weren't even paid up when McElroy received a call from the Lansing League director James Jackson, that confirmed unpaid league fees. She said she was told the team was more than $3,000 short on those fees. Those fees paid for games and insurance. We also talked to Jackson, who did confirm the Jackson Bulldogs are not paid up. But Jackson said Johnson has agreed to pay, as soon as he can.
Parents still said that doesn't add up because to their knowledge they thought they had already paid all the fees that were due.
McElroy said one day, "Phil came out here and told us that he spent the money that we paid him from concessions, that it's all gone. We asked him, where's the money." Little also wanting to see some proof, she told Philip, "bring me all the proof of where the money is, I want to see receipts, I want to see bank statements, I want to see it all. And Monday night we showed up here, he had a folder full of stuff that was receipts." Little said those receipts still left parents with a lot of unanswered questions. She also said she agrees with McElroy, that the receipts look made-up.
Johnson said he did keep something from the parents, he admits he "didn't tell the parents I was on a payment plan, I told them we're good." A payment plan he has set up with the Lansing Football League because he didn't have enough money up front.
