DALE WRIGHT (dwright, wreckmaniac) ripped off his dive club..

[cornfed]

Well when you have tried EVERY other possible option what do you have left?

I assume everyone wrote checks, have you discussed the situation with your bank?

Have you contacted the police? One thousand dollars is large enough sum to get them interested.

 

[Corigan]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that yelling about this on an online chat board might not be the right way to go about solving the problem.

Don't you think other divers should be warned about this guy? If he takes his "best" friend and close friends in his club, he would swindle anybody from what I can assume. Jason had some threads linked to where he was trying to get people to go in on TDS for group manifold buys and group custom lighthead purchases. He even had a link to a thread where Dale was trying to get people to send him money to fund a project. I would hate for other divers to get taken, and this thread is just a way to get his name out in the community. So I do say that this may not be a way to solve the problem (which is in dale's hands), but it atleast informs the community of this individual.

BTW, I don't remember the exact total, what was it Jason? We did the math on wreckmaniac one night figuring out how much he took everyone for. Something in the 1500-1600 range?

Matt

 

[BabyDuck]

I assume everyone wrote checks, have you discussed the situation with your bank?

Have you contacted the police? One thousand dollars is large enough sum to get them interested.

since it's 10 or so people, and about $150 each, i don't know that the police would care. any police want to comment?

and what could the bank do? the checks were cashed before the first weekend in april, some as long ago as november/december.

 

[LindaBluedolphin]

I don't have a dog in this fight, but could easily have been part of this mess. I can tell anyone who is reading this, everyone involved has been more then patient and in the beginning did give Dale the benefit of the doubt. He has not been on his site since May, he has simply vanished. I feel very badly for everyone involved, and it is unfortunate it had to be brought out in the open like this, but he brought it on himself.

I guess the lesson learned here is when planning a group trip with a dive operator book directly with the operator.

Personally I don't want to get involved in group money too much to worry about.

 

[suthnbelle]

I assume everyone wrote checks, have you discussed the situation with your bank?

Have you contacted the police? One thousand dollars is large enough sum to get them interested.

Checks were cashed back in March. Our wreck dives were planned for early April. Only option I know of is small claims court.

 

[H2Andy]

FYI:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showpost.php?p=1217226&postcount=38

 

[DrSteve]

Small claims court is dead easy to file for - do it as a group and it'll cost $20 (or there abouts) and someone to turn up to court. People tend to get very agreeable when that happens. You might also want to consider putting a lien on his house or vehicle. Very easy to do and a pain to remove.

Good luck.

 

[DennisW]

The lien idea is the best one. When you go to small claims court, they will rule that yes the individual truly owes you the money. Now it's up to you to go get it, which all of these people have been trying to do anyway. Not worth the effort in my opinion. The lien, though is a great idea. The person can never sell the house, vehicle, or get a loan on it without the lien being cleared.

 

[H2Andy]

how it works in florida, is that once you get the judgment in small claims court,
you then have a "judgment lien" which is good for 7 years (you have to renew it).

basically, your lien puts you in line to receive proceeds from any sale of real
estate owned by the person. they won't be able to get title insurance so long
as there's a lien on the property, so they normally have to pay before they
can sell.

the downside is that judgment liens are junior to tax liens, municipal liens,
first mortgages, and pretty much any other lien that's ahead of you. so...
in case of a foreclosure, you won't get anything.

but yeah, it's a nice thing to have just in case they decide to sell real property.

 

[Jason B]

Just wanted to say that we appreciate everyone giving suggestions on how to handle the problem.
That said, most of us have written it off as a lesson learned and the whole idea behind the thread was to let others know about this person so that they are not taken like we were.
Just looking out for our fellow divers.