Greed has no limits for some people. Even when it comes to allegedly stealing money and hope from a dying child.
On Aug. 30, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office charged 53-year-old Spring Valley resident Douglas Riesberg with fraudulent schemes and theft from the Illinois chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Riesberg also has an extensive criminal history for failing to appear in court and dangerous drug crimes.
He is accused of scamming the foundation out of $11,000 and causing a huge disappointment to a very sick 16-year-old-boy in Chicago with a terminal medical condition.
By Greg Nix
Larson Newspapers
Greed has no limits for some people. Even when it comes to allegedly stealing money and hope from a dying child.
On Aug. 30, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office charged 53-year-old Spring Valley resident Douglas Riesberg with fraudulent schemes and theft from the Illinois chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Riesberg also has an extensive criminal history for failing to appear in court and dangerous drug crimes.
He is accused of scamming the foundation out of $11,000 and causing a huge disappointment to a very sick 16-year-old-boy in Chicago with a terminal medical condition.
During late March, Riesberg agreed to deliver a custom go-kart to the young man and accepted $11,000 from the foundation to cover the cost. Although the kart was expected to be completed within three weeks, the Make-A-Wish staff never heard from Riesberg.
The foundation then had their lawyer hunt him down in early June and demand the finished kart. Make-A-Wish followed up with a demand letter, and Riesberg promised delivery in July after completing some final work on the kart.
YCSO was also contacted by the foundation, which completed a report to help Make-A-Wish settle the problem.
When the go-kart for the dying 16 year old boy never showed up as promised, Make-A-Wish asked YCSO to look into the problem. There had been no effort from Riesberg to deliver a go-kart or return their money.
During the investigation, deputies learned Riesberg had ordered the basic go-kart assembly from another company in March, but had never picked it up. The Make-A-Wish child had already been promised a delivery date by Riesberg, but he never arrived at the boy’s home.
In August, deputies realized Riesberg was sitting in the Yavapai County Jail on drug charges.
Riesberg was interviewed on Aug. 30 in the jail; he said he agreed to give Make-A-Wish the custom go-kart. He said he had trouble in getting the new go-kart for the child. Instead, he said, he had planned on giving the dying 16-year-old his personal go-kart until he could work out details for the custom kart.
He told deputies he had no intention of returning the money to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Riesberg later told the deputies he lost several thousand dollars in a business deal gone bad and used the Make-A-Wish money to cover some of the loss.
Deputies spoke with the mother of the child who had expected to receive the custom go-kart. She explained how her son had been in constant phone contact with Riesberg and they discussed the soon-to-be-delivered go-kart.
Riesberg told the child he was a millionaire and had several homes. He agreed to meet the dying boy and his mom on Aug. 15 at the airport to give the dying youth the custom go-kart.
The youth was taken off his kidney dialysis and was driven to the airport, but Riesberg was a no-show.
The dying youth and his mother got a text message from Riesberg who told them his flight was delayed for about 30 minutes, but he would be there.
Riesberg never showed up.
Greg Nix can be reached at 282-7795, ext. 122, or e-mail gnix@larsonnewspapers.com
