Little Leagues Nationwide Say Bellevue Company Took Their Money

Local little leagues are missing thousands of dollars, and they say a Bellevue, Wash., company took their money and won't give it back.

The company called Count Me In helps thousands of youth sports teams nationwide to help collect registration dues and donations.

According to court documents, some organizations hire companies such as Count Me In to allow members to submit online credit card payments for registration or to pay for other services.

The companies accept the payment, process them with the credit card companies and then take their share of the customer’s payment before giving it to the organization.

The potential for fraud has come to the attention of the Washington State Attorney General's Office, and Count Me In is facing a lawsuit in federal court by a New Jersey soccer team that says CMI took their money and used it for their own pleasure, according to court documents.

Dozens of leagues could be affected around the nation.

The president of Eastlake Little League baseball in Washington State, Todd Pladson, said he hired CMI, which charges about $3 for each registration.

Pladson said Count Me In cannot account for $66,000 parents paid just last week using the online services. When the registration money never showed up in the Little League bank account, Pladson went to Count Me In's Bellevue address.

Pladson said he was eventually told by the CEO of CMI, Terry Drayton, that the company was in financial trouble and could only give him a check for $4,000.

"On Sunday, we sent an e-mail out to all our members who already paid and we asked them to dispute the credit card charge," Pladson said.

The co-president of Issaquah Youth Lacrosse also went to the Bellevue office in an effort to talk with Drayton, but was only able to talk to a sales consultant.

“She said, 'Well, we can assure you that we will be making every effort to pay you back, we have every intention to pay you that money.' I said, 'Every intention?' Sounds like we have a problem. She said 'Well, we are in a bit of a cash crisis,'" said Matthew Balkman, co-president of the Issaquah Youth Lacrosse.

Balkman said he asked the consultant how many other youth sports organizations had this problem and she responded with more than 100.

In a complaint filed by a soccer club in New Jersey, members paid more than $210,000 in fees and donations to the club through the Count Me In Web site.

Count Me In has failed to pay the soccer club at least $142,000 of the $210,000 collected during the spring, summer and fall of 2008, according to court documents.

Two board members of the club called Drayton and he said $210,000 was due to the club, but the company did not have the money to pay it in full, the documents stated.

In a follow up e-mail sent by Drayton to the New Jersey club, he said his company used the money to satisfy debts owed to other third parties of Count Me In.

Soon after the phone call, a check of nearly $68,000 was received by the soccer club, but a balance still remains, according to the complaint.

"That's what really disturbs me is that on Nov. 1, when we opened up our online registration, CMI had already been sued by a youth organization in New Jersey," Pladson said, "It was a soccer organization where they hadn't paid them $140,000 and now we're on the hook for $66,000 or somewhere near that amount."

The CEO of Count Me In would not return phone calls from KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

League coaches said the company may be sending out a form letter to teams everywhere, telling them they are trying to get financing to pay the money back, but some smaller league coaches said if they don't get the money, there may be no season at all.