So no customer's funds were actually received in the account. Keeping all funds for any further charge backs - which effectively caused further charge backs. During this time no processing was done and then Electronic Merchant Services suspended release of customers funds because the chargeback ratio exceeded the allowable 4%. (redact) I had hospitalizations for heart attacks. I take the orders and the clerk issues the plates. This is an online business and a 2 person operation. “The office is a virtual office - as it has been for 15 years. During this time, no processing was done." he wrote. "I had hospitalizations for heart attacks. Towner would not give ABC Action News an interview but explained what happened to the more recent issues in an email. He will be sentenced on October 6 in Federal Court in Tallahassee. According to the DOJ indictment, he illegally received more than $250,000 that should have gone to charities.įour years later, Towner pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, and the government dismissed the rest of the counts. In 2017, the Department of Justice charged Towner with 16 counts in a scheme to defraud case. The I-Team found Towner has a criminal history involving the sale of specialty tags. State records showed the name, “MyfloridaSpecialtyPlate,” was registered by Michael Towner. The BBB issued a consumer alert on the business after more than 220 people filed complaints over the last three years.īBB spokesperson Bryan Oglesby told ABC Action News, “Consumers over and over were not receiving the license plate that they paid for.” The I-Team found a pattern of complaints with the Better Business Bureau. That link connected buyers to a third-party vendor, which Janice March used in February to order her “Trees Are Cool” tag.įive months later, she told ABC Action News she was still waiting. Its president, Norm Easy, told ABC Action News the “Trees Are Cool” plates generate about $130,000 a year.įor several years, “Trees Are Cool” supporters used the link posted on the ISA website to purchase their specialty plate. ISA’s mission is to provide education and research for the management of urban trees. The International Society of Arboriculture’s Florida chapter is among them. Some of the operations are small nonprofits that rely on the sales of specialty license plates for the majority of their funding. Florida offers more than 100 specialty license plate designs representing nonprofit organizations.
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