Police have arrested a Gwinnett County man accused of setting up a fake business to help high school students get college scholarships. Authorities said those students didn't get scholarships and employees didn't get paid.
Police say Adrian Davis was very good at promising college scholarships for his young customers and high-paying jobs for people desperate for work.
"He was trying to get into everyone's pockets," said Major Don Woodruff of the Duluth Police Department.
Vickie Birch and Crystal Cartledge went to work for Davis and his company, Sports Solutions of America. Birch had been unemployed for two years.
"I was excited because after looking for work for so long, you give up hope,'" said Birch.
The job sounded great. They worked in a Duluth co-working space shared by several small businesses.
Police say Adrian Davis would charge between $300 to $3,000 to help high school athletes get college scholarships. But investigators say it was all fake.
"This was a scam. There was never anything forthcoming," said Woodruff.
"You're ruining people's lives. Ruining kids' dreams. The number one thing that high school students want to do is go on to college," said Cartledge
Police say Davis' employees never got paid and his young clients never got the services they were promised.
Davis's multiple companies weren't registered with the city or the secretary of state.
"He was a very good talker, an incredible liar, but never followed through on anything," said Cartledge.
Jim Ware works in the same co-workspace. He's a graphic designer and says Davis tried to hire him too.
"It would have made my year. I had brought in a project manager, had brought in a web developer, brought in copywriters. We were going to use all these people and create this really intricate website for him," said Ware.
But Ware says he got suspicious and didn't go through with the deal.
Cartledge and Birch went to police when they say they never got paid.
This week Adrian Davis was arrested.
"It was all a scam. It was just all smoke and mirrors," Ware said.
Investigators believe there are other victims who may not even know that the services they paid for were all allegedly fake. Anyone who believes they were a victim of Adrian Davis is asked to come forward.
Police don't know how much money and how many different cases of theft the investigation could lead too.
Saturday, May 18 2013 10:09 PM EDT2013-05-19 02:09:05 GMT
They say you can't win if you don't play, and thousands of people are. The jackpot for Saturday night's Powerball drawing is an estimated $600 million, giving many a bad case of lottery fever.
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Saturday, May 18 2013 4:53 PM EDT2013-05-18 20:53:02 GMT
Security will be tight and traffic will be messy around the Morehouse College campus on Sunday. President Barack Obama will address graduates at the college's commencement ceremony.
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Friday, May 17 2013 11:59 PM EDT2013-05-18 03:59:14 GMT
Who wants to a millionaire? How about 600 times over?
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