Youngsters with the Eastside Lions practice in Lancaster, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. The youth football league is out $7,000 after Long Beach-based C&G Custom Apparel did not deliver on its promise of 280 football jerseys. (Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer)
At least half a dozen Southern California youth sports teams are saying "game over" to a Long Beach-based business they claim scammed teams out of thousands of dollars for uniforms they never received.
The Lancaster Eastside Lions have filed a small claims lawsuit - with tentative plans for more legal action in collaboration with other teams - against George Chuck Josephs of C&G Custom Sports Apparel and Corsair, manufacturers of custom team sportswear.
Lions president Robert Lopez said his team was approached in April by Josephs who promised custom-designed jerseys at a great price.
Several deposits and missed deadlines later - the Lions were forced to reschedule their first football game of the season - Lopez was out $7,000 for incomplete jerseys.
"With everyone encouraging people to keep business local, I thought I was doing a good thing by spending the money here in Southern California," said Lopez, who had purchased team jerseys from a company in Pakistan for the last four years.
But Lopez didn't know that trying to save a few dollars would turn into a major hassle that would put the Lions in the red.
After taking the unfinished jerseys to another shop to get logos and names affixed, Lions treasurer Caroline Roth said the team spent more than $16,000.
"We're devastated. We have no idea how we're going to pay for everything during the rest of the season," Roth said, adding that currently there is no
money in the budget for the team's year-end banquet and trophies.Lopez said the ordeal even had some parents questioning whether he pocketed the $7,000.
"They thought I was in cahoots with this guy," he said. "It really caused stress on me, on my family and on the organization."
Lopez wasn't the only one duped.
Teams in Palmdale, Victorville, Adelanto and others have come forward with similar complaints.
Steve Halpin, outgoing president for the Chino Hills Junior All-American Bulldogs Football and Cheer, said Josephs told him in March that he was going into business with youth leagues to bolster business after weathering the tough economy.
"He came to us and said he could do wonderful stuff," Halpin said of his first meeting with Josephs. "At the time, everything seemed legit."
The Bulldogs ended up losing $27,200 to Josephs for an order of 800 jerseys that was never fulfilled, Halpin said.
What the Bulldogs got instead were 383 plain white jerseys - that have turned a pinkish color after being washed - and 372 black jerseys that were in the wrong size, didn't have numbers and/or had misspelled names.
"I had to camp out to catch him and get my jerseys," Halpin said of his Sept. 21 visit to Josephs' Long Beach business, "and they didn't even come out right."
According to a Better Business Bureau business review, 14 complaints have been filed against Josephs since 2010, including one by the Fullerton College Baseball team. All complaints included teams placing orders with Josephs and not receiving complete orders after paying thousands of dollars in deposits.
The C&G Custom Sports Apparel and Corsair office - anchored in a back alley in an industrial sector of Long Beach - was locked Friday and no one appeared to be at the location.
There was no sign listing the company name on the main thoroughfare of the 3200 block of 29th Street, next to the southbound San
Robert Lopez, president of Lancaster s Eastside Lions, shows a sample jersey the youth football league thought they were getting when they spent $7,000 with Long Beach-based C&G Custom Apparel. (Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer)
Diego (405) Freeway. The mailbox at the corner of the alley also didn't list the company name, and the office was bare of any signage or identifying information.A business owner in the area said several clients had been at the office recently attempting to contact Josephs to have their payments reimbursed, but the shop was closed when they arrived.
Attempts to contact Josephs at the gated apartment complex in Paramount that is listed as his residence were unsuccessful Friday.
The Daily News also made multiple calls to Josephs' Paramount home and Long Beach business numbers but was not able to leave a message. Josephs did not reply to an email for comment.
Team officials who dealt with Josephs said that working with him on jersey designs was great until deposits were made.
"Once he got the money," Lopez said, "he turned into somebody else."
Adelanto Saints president Ke'ron Jones said daily conversations via the phone or email ceased once money was transferred to Josephs, and once-easy inquiries took dogged persistence and multiple visits to Long Beach to get a response.
Then when the team demanded a refund of its $2,000 deposit for the incomplete work, Jones said "it was an excuse, after excuse, after excuse."
"If we were an adult league or a high school, no big deal, because they have several means of funding," Jones said. "But we're dealing with kids age 6 to 14 - so he took out of their pockets. I'm just thankful I have parents that were understanding."
Many teams said they didn't bother to call the police about Josephs, but Roth said she did call the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lancaster Station to try and file a complaint. Police told her there was little they could do unless there was proof Josephs set out to intentionally defraud the team.
"They're complaining about the business he does, and that's not a criminal matter. Even missing his deadline - regardless of how many times he did that - that's not a criminal matter," said sheriff's Lt. Keith Lieberman.
But Lieberman added, as a parent involved in a youth football program himself, he understands the team officials' frustrations.
"Bottom line is to make sure, just like with any business deal, that you research who you're dealing with before any money is exchanged," he said. "If it sounds too good to be true, it may be just that. There are a lot of shady characters out there, so you need to be diligent."
Lopez said he is reaching out to other Southern California youth sports leagues to possibly file a class-action lawsuit against Josephs.
"I'm not going to let this go," Lopez said. "If it was just done to me, fine. But to my kids? No. I'm not going to let this go."
Staff Writers Joe Segura and Pamela Hale-Burns contributed to this report.
mariecar.mendoza@dailynews.com
818-713-3623
twitter.com/LADNMarMendoza
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