A 22-year-old Cape Coral woman is behind bars, charged with bilking young basketball players’ parents out of hundreds of dollars each.
Tyla Saige Vaccaro, of the 1900 block of Southeast 31st Terrace, remained in the Lee County Jail Tuesday afternoon pending posting of a total of $9,000 in bonds on six felony counts, including fraud, two counts of grand theft and three counts of insufficient funds in a checking account.
According to a Lee County Sheriff’s Office report:
On April 16, 2009, Russel Duverteuil, 28, told deputies he coaches youth basketball leagues. In September 2008, Vaccaro told him she was the president of the non-profit youth basketball program, Rebound Youth Organization. The organization was established to form travel teams for youngsters to enhance their basketball skills by competing in tournaments.
In October 2008, children went to Fort Myers Beach for try-outs and parents paid $435 each per child to participate. Each child had to raise an average of an additional $200 each through donations, fundraising and a group garage sale.
The teams participated in two tournaments after between 22 and 24 parents registered their children.
The governing league said the checks issued from the organization’s account were returned because of insufficient funds and the children could not participate in further events.
The estimated loss “appears to be over $5,000,” the report states.
The Sheriff’s reports lists 16 victims, all from Cape Coral.