I understand where you’re coming from Chris. The problem is Heath doesn’t want to post. He told me he’s been advised not to. So the options are me posting when/if he updates me or me not posting the info.
Again though, I do understand where you’re coming from.
Edit - I guess ultimately, for me anyway, I just want the money donated. Prosecuting, calling him out, making him take his licks… isn’t important to me. Seeing that the money makes its way to cancer research is.
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Fair enough, that is why I thank you for doing it.
As for Heath keeping silent, it is probably for the best. Not because he could incriminate himself even more… but because there really isn’t an excuse good enough to cover what he did. If I had my way I wouldn’t send him to jail, nor would I wish physical harm on him in any way. I would simply set him in a room of current cancer victims, survivors, and the families who have lost due to cancer. I would sit him there and have him list every petty little thing that was bought using the money that could have helped out. Have him explain to them why each line item was more important than finding a cure to this horrible disease.
I’ll take solace in the fact that he is probably reading this. He needs to realize that his actions cost him quite a bit. In essence he pissed away his good name, and a damn fine company all for $4300. I hope it was worth it. I use to call him a friend and enjoyed our conversations about the industry over the phone and on Facebook… now he can lose my number, I have already removed him from my friends list.
I think they deserve an explanation more than we do.
Yuki
Just decided to check the forums today for the first time in a couple of weeks.
I’m shocked and disgusted.
I don’t think sitting him anywhere to listen to anything will help. I’m sure he has worked hard to dehumanize his crime. You guys are over thinking this stuff. He doesn’t care about cancer, he cares about quick cash. Surely he could have taken a loan from his mother to cover newton expenses, but no, stealing is easier than asking.
Same. This is absolutely a terrible thing he has done.
But that doesnt mean he can’t be forgiven. He needs to make things right as soon as posible. Its unfortunate that his company has to disappear, even though I dont plan to or have owned anything he has made. If he makes things right, I will have more respect for him. But he has to realize he cant exactly arrive back on the yoyo scene and be well liked. He’s gotten himself into quite a sticky situation that im not really sure he can get out of. I guess we’ll see what happens.
Sad, really.
VsNYYC image is totally tarnished, and I don’t think things will be forgiven easily. It will take a lot of time; if not is going to be a downhill for the company at this point.
I guess it’s time for me to post on this matter. The fact that this happened really shocked me. And of all people to do it, a manufacturer. This just makes me mad.
Heath, I now address this message directly to you.
The fact that you would go outright, under the name of a charity, and steal money is astounding. A few days ago, I thought you a good man. Busy and disorganized, but good. I never even knew about the whole “Works” project. You even had people draw pictures of you. That was just so you could think of yourself as better than us, because you can design good yoyo’s and steal money. That’s just downright wrong. You ruined your name in the yoyo community, probably forever. If you hadn’t stolen the money, you could have designed many more great yoyos, but now, that chance is gone, and open for others.
Who even won that Moonwalker?
A guy named Matt Leblanc. I don’t know if he’s a member of this forum or what his SN is if so, don’t think it was ever stated.
It wasn’t even for a Moonwalker, it was for a discount on a Moonwalker…
oh good, just making sure that he actually picked a winner
Forgiveness is something you do for yourself. It’s coming to be at peace with the fact that people make mistakes and it’s not your place to judge, nor is it doing you good to hold onto your anger toward them.
…but it doesn’t mean the other person gets to continue doing what they were doing. I don’t think forgiveness will ever bring VSNYYC back, nor probably should it.
That’s the reason I remembered his name.
wow. i was watching Friends right when i read that post. that is so cool!
unrelated: the producers of matt leblanc’s show ‘joey’ once ordered a bunch of yoyos.
on topic:
I’ll preface this with what we all agree on: Using money intended for a charity for your own purposes is an absolutely horrible thing to do… that said…
I spoke to Heath on the phone today as well… I have been a bit out of the loop as of late (got married about a week ago) and came back to find all this drama… so I reached out to him to get information directly from the source.
From our discussion, he says he is doing what he can to fix things and that the money will be donated by the 10th, and that he will post a receipt of the transaction at that time. Is it the way it should have happened? heck no, but in the end if the money gets where it needs to be, that’s what really matters.
It sounds like a situation I’ve seen played out by others in the past (albeit not with charity involved)… guy starts with good idea, guy gets in over head, makes stupid mistake of spending money that isn’t his with the intention of replacing it, isn’t able to replace it, lies about it to buy time, still can’t fix it, lies some more, and it snowballs from there. Eventually it crashes and things go bad. Most of the time, they walk away and don’t fix it… he seems like he wants to fix it.
None of this makes it OK, but it’s something.
We can doubt him all we want, and we have every reason to at this point… but we have a clear answer now, lets see how it plays out before we gather the firing squad.
If it all gets worked out, then in the end all of this is ultimately a good thing. It wasn’t neat and easy like it should have been, but who can really complain about a pile of money going to a worthy charity… regardless of the path it took to get there?
If it turns out it was all a scam, then by all means break out the pitchforks.
Kyle
This is really a great response. A lot of people are just really really angry, and that’s understandable. It really is.
But this is the first time I’ve seen anyone take a moderate stance to this, and I think it’s good.
Anyways, I heard from Heath too that he will be paying it by the 10th.
So if he was able to get a loan from his mother for 3 grand, why not rewind a couple years, actually donate the charity money, and reach out to your mom with a request for a 3000 dollar loan to improve is company/quality of life. If 3 grand was readily available, thats what I would have done. But hey, he might have stolen the money from his mom like he did the community…
The issue I have with this outlook is that Heath never intended to make it right. It only ever came up because some very astute people put all the facts together and realized that this math didn’t work…and even then, they were lied to. It wasn’t just not “clean”, it was outright theft, and I suspect the biggest reason he is interested in re-paying the money is for fear of the consequences this community will seek. It’s the only reason that makes any sense seeing that he was never interested in fessing up until those types of threats were being voiced.
Would have been an entirely different story if Heath had realized when/how he’d gone wrong and had come to the community to work out a solution. Still wouldn’t have been admirable, but that indicates making a mistake and getting in over your head. Not what happened, though.
Yes, money is going to charity. I get you there and that’s a great thing. But I can’t take an ends justify the means stance on this one. If this was even remotely acceptable for charity drives then the ACS would be in very dire straights.
