Outrageous fees, missing personal information and paperwork, and even customers' tax refunds ending up in Mo’ Money employee bank accounts are all allegations made to police by eight Norfolk residents this past Monday.
The Economic Crimes Division started investigating to see if Mo’ Money was guilty of obtaining their customers’ cash through false pretenses.
According to search warrants, the first victim told officers she filed her taxes on January 17th.
When she didn't get her money at the beginning of February, she called the IRS and found out her refund was deposited in someone else's bank account. The account belonged to a man named Clayton Bullard she says.
Coincidentally, the 2nd victim who came forward to police said Mo’ Money lied about how much they would charge him to prepare his taxes and the person who did his taxes was a man named Clayton as well.
Victims four and five say Mo’ Money quoted them lower tax refund amounts than what the company actually filed on their behalf after checking with the IRS. Both discovered the company kept more than $1,100 of their refund money for fees.
Victim eight told police that Mo’ Money filed her taxes without her W-2 information available.
They told her they could access it all online. These stories sound like deceit and fraud to many in Norfolk City Government. Commissioner of the revenue Sharon McDonald says her office started investigating the company last week.
“Came to our office as a zoning request then started getting calls from taxpayers asking do they have a business license,” says McDonald.
She found that only two of Mo’ Money's locations were operating with business licenses. The other four were technically breaking the law.
We found a business license filed for the Mo’ Money East Little Creek location showing the names of Patrick Townsend and Keith Hill.
“It’s just terrible that they have taken advantage of these people. My heart goes out to them because it’s wrong,” says McDonald.
In the search warrants, Norfolk police also name Keith Hill and Patrick Townsend, who are both from Memphis. When NewsChannel 3 checked their backgrounds, we found that the two are an aspiring rap duo, called “Swat Game,” who released a CD called "The Arrival" back in 2011.
The two men, as well as the other Mo’ Money employees who came from Memphis to work in Norfolk, have not been seen in town since Monday night.
Mo’ Money employees have told many of their customers around Norfolk that more checks will be coming on Friday.
But since the employees have skipped town, it remains to be seen if that promise will be kept.
