All-Star Craig El Arrested For Stealing From Gymtyme Ga Families

[mzmarymac]

Time for my two cents. First of all, this situation is no laughing matter. It affects REAL people. So please stop with the jokes, respectfully. I would just like to tell another side of the story because there are always two sides.

My daughter is in her 6th season with UA. She has been there since she was 7. To her, it is home, and to her, it is family. She feels safe there, loved there, appreciated there. She receives daily hugs from staff, friends, and yes, Craig and even his grandmother. If Craig has done anything wrong, he is TOO kind, too giving, too compassionate.

Did Craig make some business mistakes and poor business decisions? Likely. Does that make him a criminal? That is a HUGE stretch! If we locked up every person that made a bad business decision, or who's business failed, the jails would be jam packed. Do those who made payments for competition fees have a right to be angry? Absolutely! Do they deserve to paid back? Certainly. Perhaps some form of restitution or punitive damages? Sure. Fortunately, there are no "real" damages to claim, as the teams did, in fact, compete at Cheersport, so that misfortune was avoided. But these are matter for civil courts to decide. Craig was not participating in a get-rich-quick scheme, or a ponzi scheme, so that he could make himself wealthy with the intent to defraud the people in GA. No. He tried to do for them exactly what he did for those at Cheer Fusion, Cheer Command, etc...and take a struggling program and help turn it into a great program. I've seen the results with him playing a very important role in creating UA and GTIL as two excellent gyms. So why wouldn't he feel he could create the magic again?

For you to believe that Craig El is guilty of fraud, you would have to believe that he intended for that gym to fail. But does anyone actually believe that? Do you think that Craig intended to steal these people's money and deny the kids the opportunity to compete, knowing that his reputation was at stake? No. He was trying to BUILD something.

But what he found out was that the gym he was trying to save was in much deeper trouble than he had realized and that rather than saving it, it was sinking. My guess is that he took the money and paid the bills to keep the lights on, the doors open, etc... Now, if he hadn't paid those fees and had paid the comp fees, the gym would have likely closed and then they wouldn't have even had a space to practice, coaches to coach them, and, more than likely, NOT been able to compete at Cheersport.

The problem Craig had was that he treated his business like family rather than just a business. So while some of you are laughing, this man hasn't just lost a business, he has lost a family. And now he is in danger of losing his reputation and even his freedom. I am sorry, but this man does NOT deserve this one bit. If you wish to judge him harshly as a business man, and as someone who perhaps was DUI (sorry, but could have been me when I was younger and stupid,) then that is fine and is your right. But for anyone to say that he is a bad person, he deserves what he gets, he has "taken advantage of children" or any such thing, you should examine your own souls. Craig El is a good man, with a huge heart, who loves children and wants to see them succeed.

No matter what the future holds for my daughter, we will always consider ourselves part of the Royal Family and will always consider Craig a part of our family. I hope and pray the courts realize that this is not a criminal matter and let it play out in a civil court where it belongs.

 

[quietmom]

Time for my two cents. First of all, this situation is no laughing matter. It affects REAL people. So please stop with the jokes, respectfully. I would just like to tell another side of the story because there are always two sides.

My daughter is in her 6th season with UA. She has been there since she was 7. To her, it is home, and to her, it is family. She feels safe there, loved there, appreciated there. She receives daily hugs from staff, friends, and yes, Craig and even his grandmother. If Craig has done anything wrong, he is TOO kind, too giving, too compassionate.

Did Craig make some business mistakes and poor business decisions? Likely. Does that make him a criminal? That is a HUGE stretch! If we locked up every person that made a bad business decision, or who's business failed, the jails would be jam packed. Do those who made payments for competition fees have a right to be angry? Absolutely! Do they deserve to paid back? Certainly. Perhaps some form of restitution or punitive damages? Sure. Fortunately, there are no "real" damages to claim, as the teams did, in fact, compete at Cheersport, so that misfortune was avoided. But these are matter for civil courts to decide. Craig was not participating in a get-rich-quick scheme, or a ponzi scheme, so that he could make himself wealthy with the intent to defraud the people in GA. No. He tried to do for them exactly what he did for those at Cheer Fusion, Cheer Command, etc...and take a struggling program and help turn it into a great program. I've seen the results with him playing a very important role in creating UA and GTIL as two excellent gyms. So why wouldn't he feel he could create the magic again?

For you to believe that Craig El is guilty of fraud, you would have to believe that he intended for that gym to fail. But does anyone actually believe that? Do you think that Craig intended to steal these people's money and deny the kids the opportunity to compete, knowing that his reputation was at stake? No. He was trying to BUILD something.

But what he found out was that the gym he was trying to save was in much deeper trouble than he had realized and that rather than saving it, it was sinking. My guess is that he took the money and paid the bills to keep the lights on, the doors open, etc... Now, if he hadn't paid those fees and had paid the comp fees, the gym would have likely closed and then they wouldn't have even had a space to practice, coaches to coach them, and, more than likely, NOT been able to compete at Cheersport.

The problem Craig had was that he treated his business like family rather than just a business. So while some of you are laughing, this man hasn't just lost a business, he has lost a family. And now he is in danger of losing his reputation and even his freedom. I am sorry, but this man does NOT deserve this one bit. If you wish to judge him harshly as a business man, and as someone who perhaps was DUI (sorry, but could have been me when I was younger and stupid,) then that is fine and is your right. But for anyone to say that he is a bad person, he deserves what he gets, he has "taken advantage of children" or any such thing, you should examine your own souls. Craig El is a good man, with a huge heart, who loves children and wants to see them succeed.

No matter what the future holds for my daughter, we will always consider ourselves part of the Royal Family and will always consider Craig a part of our family. I hope and pray the courts realize that this is not a criminal matter and let it play out in a civil court where it belongs.

1.) DUI is a criminal matter. Intent or not, it can be deadly and dramatically change lives. For the DUI alone, he deserves to be arrested. I have met too many kids who have dealt with the life changing impacts of a person's decision to get behind the wheel intoxicated. For that alone, I have zero pity for him. My youngest child had surgery to remove a tumor from his spine last August. He had to spend time in a rehabilitation program to walk and get use of his arms and legs again. I have seen first hand what DUI's do to innocent people and how devastating they can be. This is more than just a young and stupid situation.

2.) No one here is making fun of the gym or athletes, or cheering the demise of any program that is struggling. As crazy as we can be here, no one wants to see a program fail or for athletes to lose their gym homes.

3.) The prosecutors made the decision to charge him with a crime after investigating. He was not charged with fraud. He was charged with theft by taking. The definition if theft by taking in the state of GA is as follows:

If you go here and search by his last name, you can see the Paulding County charges related to this. Sheriff - Paulding County Sheriffs Office Adult Detention Facility


http://www.conawayandstrickler.com/Criminal-Defense-Practice/State-Crimes/Theft-by-Taking.shtm

"Theft by taking is a serious matter in Georgia. The penalties for this type of theft range from a misdemeanor to a felony. For example, property or goods taken with a value of less than $500 is typically charged as a misdemeanor. But, if the property or good's value is greater than $500, then you could be charged with a felony.

Theft by taking occurs when someone unlawfully takes possession of any property or item belonging to someone else. How the property was taken doesn't matter. The simple act of possessing and depriving someone else of his or her property can result in you being charged, and possibly convicted of theft by taking."

4.) Telling people here to not make jokes or wise cracks is like telling the sky to not be blue. People here just do that.

 

[mzmarymac]

1.) DUI is a criminal matter. Intent or not, it can be deadly and dramatically change lives. For the DUI alone, he deserves to be arrested. I have met too many kids who have dealt with the life changing impacts of a person's decision to get behind the wheel intoxicated. For that alone, I have zero pity for him. Sorry.
I agree with you on the DUI being criminal. I am specifically talking about the theft case.
2.) No one here is making fun of the gym or athletes, or cheering the demise of any program that is struggling. As crazy as we can be here, no one wants to see a program fail or for athletes to lose their gym homes.
I respectfully disagree with the notion that there aren't any people here who don't want to see a program fail.
3.) The prosecutors made the decision to charge him with a crime after investigating. He was not charged with fraud. He was charged with theft by taking. The definition if theft by taking in the state of GA is as follows:

If you go here and search by his last name, you can see the Paulding County charges related to this. Sheriff - Paulding County Sheriffs Office Adult Detention Facility


http://www.conawayandstrickler.com/Criminal-Defense-Practice/State-Crimes/Theft-by-Taking.shtm

"Theft by taking is a serious matter in Georgia. The penalties for this type of theft range from a misdemeanor to a felony. For example, property or goods taken with a value of less than $500 is typically charged as a misdemeanor. But, if the property or good's value is greater than $500, then you could be charged with a felony.

Theft by taking occurs when someone unlawfully takes possession of any property or item belonging to someone else. How the property was taken doesn't matter. The simple act of possessing and depriving someone else of his or her property can result in you being charged, and possibly convicted of theft by taking."
And what I am disputing is that what he did was "theft by taking" and in my opinion, I would be willing to make bets that the case will fall apart when they realize that there was no "theft" just bad business planning. If he can show that the monies paid were placed back into the gym and used on business needs, as opposed to say, he took the cash out, bought himself a new car, and took off, then he would be not-guilty. My guess is that when they look at the books, there will be a full justification of where the money was spent, and although perhaps money dogeared for comp fees didn't go to comp fees, but rather rent, utilities, payroll, etc...then you certainly do NOT have a criminal case, in my opinion. Like I said, that may be up to a civil court to decide, but from what I can tell, no "theft" occurred. I will take it one step further and say that I would be extremely surprised if many gyms do not keep comp fees separate from tuition fees, and all moneys go into a collective fund for the general expenses of the business. Now..was there a reasonable expectation from the customer that those fees would be paid for competition? Of course! And my guess would be that a court may eventually find he is obligated to pay those fees back. He may incur court and lawyers fees, perhaps some punitive damages as well. But for prosecutors to claim that he basically "stole money from children" is preposterous, and although very distressing to hear, is made for effect. We will see in the end, I am not an attorney. But I am not big on locking people up for bad business deals.
4.) Telling people here to not make jokes or wise cracks is like telling the sky to not be blue. People here just do that.

I didn't tell. I respectfully asked. People are going to say and do what they want.

 

[mzmarymac]

BTW-I wanted to add one thing about the DUI charge. I am NOT, by any means, condoning what he may or may not have done (not convicted of anything yet) but I actually DO take DUI very seriously. I have a friend who's son is a quadriplegic due to a drunk driver. My cousin has been in a wheelchair since her early 20s due to her own drunk driving. I've seen what it can do and it's awful. But I do believe that there are many people (not saying you at all) that may say they are outraged over it, but I would be willing to bet some of them have just been lucky in the past that it wasn't them. I admit I did in my younger years and regret it all the time. I was definitely one of those lucky ones! And so grateful nothing bad ever happened as a result!

 

[dat.jpp]

MzLyn23

shh... lets blame our existence for joking around.

 

[mzmarymac]

MzLyn23

shh... lets blame our existence for joking around.

Not exactly sure what that means, but OK.

 

[CheerBank]

Popcorn?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm actually eating popcorn reading this. It was a perfect combination.

Time for my two cents. First of all, this situation is no laughing matter. It affects REAL people. So please stop with the jokes, respectfully. I would just like to tell another side of the story because there are always two sides.

My daughter is in her 6th season with UA. She has been there since she was 7. To her, it is home, and to her, it is family. She feels safe there, loved there, appreciated there. She receives daily hugs from staff, friends, and yes, Craig and even his grandmother. If Craig has done anything wrong, he is TOO kind, too giving, too compassionate.

Did Craig make some business mistakes and poor business decisions? Likely. Does that make him a criminal? That is a HUGE stretch! If we locked up every person that made a bad business decision, or who's business failed, the jails would be jam packed. Do those who made payments for competition fees have a right to be angry? Absolutely! Do they deserve to paid back? Certainly. Perhaps some form of restitution or punitive damages? Sure. Fortunately, there are no "real" damages to claim, as the teams did, in fact, compete at Cheersport, so that misfortune was avoided. But these are matter for civil courts to decide. Craig was not participating in a get-rich-quick scheme, or a ponzi scheme, so that he could make himself wealthy with the intent to defraud the people in GA. No. He tried to do for them exactly what he did for those at Cheer Fusion, Cheer Command, etc...and take a struggling program and help turn it into a great program. I've seen the results with him playing a very important role in creating UA and GTIL as two excellent gyms. So why wouldn't he feel he could create the magic again?

For you to believe that Craig El is guilty of fraud, you would have to believe that he intended for that gym to fail. But does anyone actually believe that? Do you think that Craig intended to steal these people's money and deny the kids the opportunity to compete, knowing that his reputation was at stake? No. He was trying to BUILD something.

But what he found out was that the gym he was trying to save was in much deeper trouble than he had realized and that rather than saving it, it was sinking. My guess is that he took the money and paid the bills to keep the lights on, the doors open, etc... Now, if he hadn't paid those fees and had paid the comp fees, the gym would have likely closed and then they wouldn't have even had a space to practice, coaches to coach them, and, more than likely, NOT been able to compete at Cheersport.

The problem Craig had was that he treated his business like family rather than just a business. So while some of you are laughing, this man hasn't just lost a business, he has lost a family. And now he is in danger of losing his reputation and even his freedom. I am sorry, but this man does NOT deserve this one bit. If you wish to judge him harshly as a business man, and as someone who perhaps was DUI (sorry, but could have been me when I was younger and stupid,) then that is fine and is your right. But for anyone to say that he is a bad person, he deserves what he gets, he has "taken advantage of children" or any such thing, you should examine your own souls. Craig El is a good man, with a huge heart, who loves children and wants to see them succeed.

No matter what the future holds for my daughter, we will always consider ourselves part of the Royal Family and will always consider Craig a part of our family. I hope and pray the courts realize that this is not a criminal matter and let it play out in a civil court where it belongs.

I'm sorry, I couldn't get past the second paragraph where you mentioned the daily hugs that your 13 year old receives from everyone in the gym and their grandmother.

 

[mzmarymac]

I'm actually eating popcorn reading this. It was a perfect combination.

I'm sorry, I couldn't get past the second paragraph where you mentioned the daily hugs that your 13 year old receives from everyone in the gym and their grandmother.

She's 12 and do you have a problem with hugs?

 

[ACEDAD]

I didn't tell. I respectfully asked. People are going to say and do what they want.

I quoted this one rather than the big one to save space.

The comment that "if the money can be shown to have been put back into the business then he'll be found not guilty" is incomprehensible to me.

Money is fungible. If I take a dollar from you and use it to pay my company's bills, that's no different than taking it as compensation.

I'm not arguing his case; just that position.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mzmarymac]

I quoted this one rather than the big one to save space.

The comment that "if the money can be shown to have been put back into the business then he'll be found not guilty" is incomprehensible to me.

Money is fungible. If I take a dollar from you and use it to pay my company's bills, that's no different than taking it as compensation.

I'm not arguing his case; just that position.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OK - I get what you are saying. But my argument is that if the funds are used for the business and not his personal use, it is difficult to claim it is "theft" or criminal. I would be willing to bet that most businesses charge fees for different things and the money all goes into one general fund. For example, say you hire a contractor to build you a patio. He gives you a list of items that you are expected to pay for, including materials, labor, and let's just say, a built in grill for an additional $200. Now, the contractor takes your check and deposits it into his bank account. Do you expect that he takes those very dollars and goes straight to the store to buy the materials? No. He puts it in his bank account with the rest of his money. Your job is scheduled for June, but by April, he is having financial difficulties. Turns out that several deals fell through, people's checks bounced, whatever, and he ends up without enough cash to purchase your grill, which you've already paid for. Patio is complete, but no grill. He goes out of business. You would be mad, of course, and you would expect him to pay you the difference for the money you paid for the grill. Now, the question is did he "steal" your money? It's a fine line. He didn't intend to rip you off. So what do you do? Call the cops? Or call your lawyer? Should the contractor be arrested and thrown in jail? Or should he be sued in a civil court? You may feel both, and perhaps you're right. But in my eyes, it is a civil matter.

Now...if the contractor was a gypsy who showed up at your house, you paid him $500 to sealcoat your driveway and never did the job and then skipped town, I'd say that is theft. No intention of providing you a service or product, just an intent to take your money and scram. I'd say arrest them and charge them with theft.

 

[MissCongeniality]

I quoted this one rather than the big one to save space.

The comment that "if the money can be shown to have been put back into the business then he'll be found not guilty" is incomprehensible to me.

Money is fungible. If I take a dollar from you and use it to pay my company's bills, that's no different than taking it as compensation.

I'm not arguing his case; just that position.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm just grinning about seeing "fungible" here on fb. Thank you for that @ACEDAD

 

[ACEDAD]

OK - I get what you are saying. But my argument is that if the funds are used for the business and not his personal use, it is difficult to claim it is "theft" or criminal. I would be willing to bet that most businesses charge fees for different things and the money all goes into one general fund. For example, say you hire a contractor to build you a patio. He gives you a list of items that you are expected to pay for, including materials, labor, and let's just say, a built in grill for an additional $200. Now, the contractor takes your check and deposits it into his bank account. Do you expect that he takes those very dollars and goes straight to the store to buy the materials? No. He puts it in his bank account with the rest of his money. Your job is scheduled for June, but by April, he is having financial difficulties. Turns out that several deals fell through, people's checks bounced, whatever, and he ends up without enough cash to purchase your grill, which you've already paid for. Patio is complete, but no grill. He goes out of business. You would be mad, of course, and you would expect him to pay you the difference for the money you paid for the grill. Now, the question is did he "steal" your money? It's a fine line. He didn't intend to rip you off. So what do you do? Call the cops? Or call your lawyer? Should the contractor be arrested and thrown in jail? Or should he be sued in a civil court? You may feel both, and perhaps you're right. But in my eyes, it is a civil matter.

Now...if the contractor was a gypsy who showed up at your house, you paid him $500 to sealcoat your driveway and never did the job and then skipped town, I'd say that is theft. No intention of providing you a service or product, just an intent to take your money and scram. I'd say arrest them and charge them with theft.

Intent, I think, does factor into the issue. It will be interesting to see if the case does go to court and what evidence the prosecutors have.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[UltimateAlexis]

Good people do bad things all the time. For the most part, doing bad things doesn't make you a bad person. Yes, Craig is kind, caring, and passionate, but what he did (or supposedly did) hurt a lot of other people, and you can't blame those hurt people for wanting something to be done about what they've been through. Unfortunately when it comes to committing a crime, it doesn't matter how nice you are because either way you were in the wrong. With that being said, there are a good amount of people on both sides that seem to think they know all of the details of this situation when they truly don't. The full details of the situation will come out eventually, so there is no point in getting worked up over people not being on your side when they will be informed of the facts in the near future.

 

[ACEDAD]

Usually I learn fancy new words from musicals. It's a nice change to get one from here.

Always pleased to assist with vocabulary accretion. [emoji41]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mzmarymac]

Good people do bad things all the time. For the most part, doing bad things doesn't make you a bad person. Yes, Craig is kind, caring, and passionate, but what he did (or supposedly did) hurt a lot of other people, and you can't blame those hurt people for wanting something to be done about what they've been through. Unfortunately when it comes to committing a crime, it doesn't matter how nice you are because either way you were in the wrong. With that being said, there are a good amount of people on both sides that seem to think they know all of the details of this situation when they truly don't. The full details of the situation will come out eventually, so there is no point in getting worked up over people not being on your side when they will be informed of the facts in the near future.

I agree there is no reason to get worked up either. It's just sad to see so many making huge judgments, jumping to conclusions (innocent until proven guilty) and adding all sorts of unsubstantiated claims into the mix. To me, it just hurts the kids in the end.