The owner of the San Antonio Valor, John Cardenas, was found guilty of theft of service in a Texas court on July 29th. He faces up to 10 years in prison, and is still awaiting trial on 7 similar cases.
The franchise was in the Arena Football League, as the Washington Valor, until they shut their doors in 2019. The team’s intellectual property including logo and use of the name was to be sold to Cardenas, but the owner of the TMs says the check bounced. They declined to file charges, choosing just to not do business with Cardenas instead.
This case was about $38,000 owed to Elegant Transportation who was contracted to be the official transportation business for the team.
Under Texas Law, the statute for theft of service is as follows:
(a) A person commits theft of service if, with intent to avoid payment for service that the actor knows is provided only for compensation:
(1) the actor intentionally or knowingly secures performance of the service by deception, threat, or false token;
(2) having control over the disposition of services of another to which the actor is not entitled, the actor intentionally or knowingly diverts the other’s services to the actor’s own benefit or to the benefit of another not entitled to the services;
(3) having control of personal property under a written rental agreement, the actor holds the property beyond the expiration of the rental period without the effective consent of the owner of the property, thereby depriving the owner of the property of its use in further rentals; or
(4) the actor intentionally or knowingly secures the performance of the service by agreeing to provide compensation and, after the service is rendered, fails to make full payment after receiving notice demanding payment.
According to someone close to the situation, there could be as many as 8 more awaiting indictments.
The team’s website was recently taken down, and the remaining games were canceled. They finished 0-3 in the Lone Star series, a league started up by former CIFL teams who decided to opt out of the 2021 season.
Scams like this have popped up everywhere. The Louisville Xtreme were sued for non-payment for their field system and were officially kicked out of the IFL.
Joe McClendon of the NGL is another example of the scams among the sport. He planned a bubble season in Ft Wayne, IN, which turned out to be a lie. Players were told to report on a certain date, and that their housing was covered by the city. Ft Wayne claimed to have no idea, and no deal with McClendon, so the cost of housing was put on the players, as was travel home.
More to come soon on this, as the court dates for the other charges are coming soon.
