By CARL E. FEATHER - Staff Writer - cfeather@starbeacon.com
“Russ” dialed the wrong number Thursday evening.
The telephone solicitor made the mistake of calling the secretary-treasurer of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 114 while attempting to solicit money for laid-off Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Department deputies.
Secretary-Treasurer Skip Eller knew his lodge, which sponsors the Shop With a Cop Program in December, was not doing a fundraiser. He asked the person soliciting questions about the sponsorship of his effort and discovered it wasn’t for FOP Lodge 106, either. When Eller indicated he wasn’t going to give any money, not even just $10, Russ got angry, told him Eller didn’t care about what happened to the deputies in the county, and ended the call.
Eller, a North Kingsville village councilman who is retired from the Sheriff’s Department, said he also has heard of other county residents who received similar solicitations during the past week.
Ashtabula County Sheriff William Johnson said he had not heard of the possible scam but the solicitation is not coming from his department, he said.
“There’s no truth to that,” Johnson said. “We are not collecting any money for laid-off deputies. That’s the bottom line.”
Julius Petro, secretary-treasurer of FOP Lodge 106, said a promotions company is calling residents to sell tickets for the lodge’s annual Oldies Show to be held March 28, which will feature the original Platters. Petro says the money from that effort goes to maintain the Police Memorial Park in Jefferson.
“It definitely does not go to any deputies who are laid off. They have unemployment (compensation),” Petro said.
Brian Hubbard, FOP Lodge 106 president, said the lodge’s solicitors will send a confirmation of their commitment to purchase tickets by mail.
“They should not send any money without getting something in the mail,” Hubbard said.
Petro said another confirmation that the call is legitimate is that the caller ID number would be 992-0524. Eller said the number that “Russ” used came up as “private” on his caller ID system.
Residents who get a call claiming to raise money for laid-off deputies should report the incident to the local police.
