The owner of a Gwinnett County company that provided umpires and referees to youth athletic organizations has been indicted for taking money from those officials and instead spending it on prostitutes.
Timothy Ryan, 55, of Dawsonville was indicted last week on four counts of theft by conversion and 28 counts of theft of services for withholding payments to the referees and umpires that worked sporting events in Gwinnett County in 2017, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
“Mr. Ryan owned a company - a legitimate business - where he provided (officials) for different sporting events and leagues,” Gwinnett County Assistant District Attorney Brandon Delfunt told the Post. “Youth sports associations would pay his company certain amount of money for his services, and he would keep some of it, which was (legitimate), but he was supposed to give rest to the particular umpires or referees who worked (the games).”
Instead of paying the officials, Delfunt told the newspaper that Ryan spent the money on prostitutes and escorts he found on the now-defunct Backpage.com
The officials, meanwhile, continued to take the jobs even without or with late payment, not wanting to force the children's baseball and basketball leagues to cancel games, Delfunt said, but when non-payment became apparent, they contacted police.
Delfunt said Ryan was paid about $50,000 in all and nearly $22,000 of that was supposed to pay the sports officials.
“He used a large portion of that to hire prostitutes and escorts off the Backpage website,” Delfunt said to the paper. “Ultimately, he was arrested and confessed to as much.”
Ryan is accused of hiring the prostitutes and escorts in the spring of 2017 and possibly in 2016, nearly a year before Backpage.com was closed by the FBI in an attempt to end forced prostitution and child exploitation.
