Action 9 investigates a huge fundraiser that was supposed to support an Easter Seals summer camp for disabled children.
Instead, the local couple who planned the festival, claim an event planner wrecked the fundraiser and cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Channel 9 consumer investigator Todd Ulrich found out there's a criminal investigation looking into what went wrong.
The Renaissance Festival was the couple's project to help children like their daughter, Diana.
Disabled by cerebral palsy, Diana's parents felt blessed by her trips to the Easter Seals Camp Challenge in Lake County.
Jim and Jan Boyle formed a non-profit company to stage the festival as a camp fundraiser.
“It was important to raise this money?” Ulrich asked.
“Yeah. Yeah,” Diana Boyle replied tearfully. “We wanted to bring joy to other children like Diana.”
She said the fair was a crushing failure. Instead of raising money for Easter Seals, the Boyles say they personally lost several hundred thousand dollars.
“Who do you blame?” Ulrich asked.
“Me, in part, because I trusted the wrong people,” Jim Boyle said.
The Boyles anger is aimed at Elissa Fallo who operates Perfect Productions.
Jim Boyle said she was hired to stage the fair, find sponsors, performers, plan everything. And for months, he claims Fallo had great news.
“We had hundreds of thousands of dollars in sponsorship money. We had volunteers,” Jim Boyle said.
But now the Boyles claim she left a trail of phony contracts and unauthorized credit card charges.
“I think all of it was lies because, after the event, we discovered 20 something forged contracts,” Jim Boyle said. “I think she thought she could cash in on this event.”
The couple showed Ulrich dozens of credit card receipts.
“Did you sign any of these?” Ulrich asked.
“No,” Jim Boyle said.
The Boyles claim the receipts total nearly $100,000.
“Do you know what they're for?” Ulrich asked.
“I have no idea,” Jim Boyle replied.
He made the allegations in a report filed with the Osceola County Sheriff's Office.
In an email to the Boyles, its economic crimes unit says there is a criminal investigation.
Fallo answered the door at her business address, a home in Celebration.
“I've talked to them. They have serious questions about the festival,” Ulrich told Fallo as she closed the door.
Then while Ulrich was leaving, Fallo opened her door.
“Get off my property. I'm calling the police,” Fallo said.
“This is the sidewalk. Why can't you talk to me about the festival?” Ulrich asked.
She said she would talk to Ulrich with her lawyer. Fallo and her attorney did not contact Action 9.
“She's destroyed our life,” Jim Boyle replied.
The Osceola County Sheriff's office told Ulrich there is an ongoing criminal investigation.
The Boyles' nightmare became even more stressful. Jim Boyle was diagnosed with stage four cancer last fall.
Cox Media Group
