Bishop Sycamore Head Coach Roy Johnson Accuses Suburban Schools of Recruiting

Jay Richardson denies involvement with BS, yet his last name is on their emblem. He needs to explain that.
BishopSycamore_emblem.jpg
 
New Athletic Article: https://theathletic.com/2802721/202...up-a-mess-of-unpaid-bills-and-investigations/

Warning: There is a paywall. Ari Wasserman is the former Athletic and Cleveland.com Ohio State beat writer and is a great journalist IMO. He does national recruiting now, so he is a great guy to talk about teams claiming to have 20+ D1 recruits on their roster.

Key takeaways here for those that can't read it all: Some ex-players denied the robbing of Krogers, there was a Range Rover purchased, the kids do appreciate a roof over their heads, a pair of brothers that were on the roster given to ESPN (paper without any numbers) never showed up to Sycamore and are glad they didn't, there were a few over-seas guys that will not be coming in, they used this online school: https://www.excelacademy.education/ which is 100% free apparently.

Ari also said that their QB was actually recruited at one point, but never graduated HS. He claims a Louisiana-Monroe offer, but Ari said his sources don't think it is on the table anymore. They also have one guy that was on a JuCo roster at one point.
 
Season probably over. "School" probably done.


I guess the question to be answered by the reps:" What made you think you were not going to get caught?" And to everybody else: " Why were they able to continue this fraud for three years?"
 
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New Athletic Article: https://theathletic.com/2802721/202...up-a-mess-of-unpaid-bills-and-investigations/

Warning: There is a paywall. Ari Wasserman is the former Athletic and Cleveland.com Ohio State beat writer and is a great journalist IMO. He does national recruiting now, so he is a great guy to talk about teams claiming to have 20+ D1 recruits on their roster.

Key takeaways here for those that can't read it all: Some ex-players denied the robbing of Krogers, there was a Range Rover purchased, the kids do appreciate a roof over their heads, a pair of brothers that were on the roster given to ESPN (paper without any numbers) never showed up to Sycamore and are glad they didn't, there were a few over-seas guys that will not be coming in, they used this online school: https://www.excelacademy.education/ which is 100% free apparently.

Ari also said that their QB was actually recruited at one point, but never graduated HS. He claims a Louisiana-Monroe offer, but Ari said his sources don't think it is on the table anymore. They also have one guy that was on a JuCo roster at one point.
Does the article mention the Range Rover was repossessed but only after Richardson and Johnson played hide and seek with it for four months?
 
Does the article mention the Range Rover was repossessed but only after Richardson and Johnson played hide and seek with it for four months?
Yes.

Richardson and Johnson were also named in a 2018 suit filed in Franklin County, Ohio, by Heartland Bank attempting to recover damages from a defaulted $92,020 loan that was used to purchase a 2017 Range Rover.
 
Sadly, it sounds like the only change the legislature is going to make in response to this Bishop Sycamore debacle is giving more money to the ODE to hire people to investigate schools.
Bishop Sycamore registered with the state as a non-chartered academy.

Schools in this category don't seek accreditation from the State Board of Education (often for religious reasons) because they don't want to adhere to certain state curriculum requirements and tests.

"You get no money from the state, but you get to sort of do what you want," Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said.

Ohio registered 401 private schools with this designation during the 2020-2021 school year. And they ranged from small, homeschool cooperatives to $14,000 a year private academies like Mars Hill in Cincinnati.

But no matter how big or how small, each school is expected to meet a set of minimum education standards. State law requires unchartered schools file annual reports detailing their hours of instruction, teacher qualifications and classroom safety.

But it doesn't appear as though Ohio investigates whether any of them tell the truth.
 
Sadly, it sounds like the only change the legislature is going to make in response to this Bishop Sycamore debacle is giving more money to the ODE to hire people to investigate schools.

They don’t need to hire anyone, they can outsource it to Yappi. We have a 100% success rate and are free!
 
Back on-topic: The good news, if Sycamore gets disbanded, easy recruiting for Dublin Coffman and Pick Central. Everyone could use a few extra good hall-monitors.

I would think everyone would transfer to COF Academy. All kidding aside, I really do feel sorry for the players, committed to fulfilling their dream, who got duped by criminals. And now they have been nationally humiliated. Hopefully some good can come for them, and not just seeing the exploiters punished.
 
Since the media finally noticed this story a full three years too late, here's a little trail of public records to follow.

08/30/18 Heartland Bank v. Richard Allen Group (Roy Johnson, Jay Richardson) case no. 18 CV 007448 Franklin County $90,449
11/26/18 First Merchants Bank v. Roy Johnson, Jay Richardson case no. 18 CV 009775 Franklin County $105,461656

Bank fraud, defaulted on both loans.

05/20/19 ARN Hospitality (Baymont Inn) v. Roy Johnson, Christians of Faith Academy case no. 19 CV H 05 0293 Delaware County $110,685

The coaches and players stayed at the Baymont Inn in Delaware for about six weeks during the 2018 season then absconded without paying.

10/08/19 Tailwind Griff LLC v. Roy Johnson case no. 2019 CVG 039752 Franklin County Municipal
10/16/19 Tailwind Griff LLC v. Andre Peterson case no. 2019 CVG 040542 Franklin County Municipal

The team stayed at The Griff apartments during the 2019 season without paying. There's an additional 22 other eviction cases against the players themselves. Rent was probably about $35,000 per month for all 24 apartments.

03/09/20 Delaware County v. Roy Johnson case no. 20CRB00393 Delaware County Municipal (Domestic Violence, Assault, Disorderly Conduct)

Most coaches get fired for this. Not at Bishop Sycamore.

09/21/20 Commons On Kinnear v. ISE Foundation case nos. 2020 CVG 023515 to 023545 Franklin County Municipal (16 cases total)

Evictions following the 2020 football season. Went by the name ISE Foundation that year. Rent was probably about $25,000 per month for all 16 apartments.

03/31/21 Cardinal Transportation Ltd. v. Andre Peterson, Leroy Johnson case no. 2021 CVF 009359 Franklin County Municipal

A charter bus company, amount owed unknown.

07/02/21 Delaware County bench warrant issued for Leroy Johnson Jr. re: case no. 20CRB00393
A new civil case that you might want to add to your list:

Filed: 09/01/2021
5812 Investment Group LLC vs Tyren Jackson, case no. 2021 CVG 025744 Franklin County Municipal. I have not read complaint but looks to be an unpaid bill at Century City Apartments in Reynoldsburg. Tyren Jackson is defensive coordinator and now has title BS head coach.
 
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