Target 11 Investigation: Were Former Steelers Conned?

Target 11's Karen Welles has been investigating a possible school assembly scheme.

It all started when a local PTA president complained to Channel 11 that the man who booked school assemblies featuring former Pittsburgh Steeler John Banaszak took their money and ran.

When Welles asked Banaszak about it he told her he’d also been conned--and he wasn’t alone.

Former Steeler Robin Cole told Welles, “For some reason we tend to draw people that are looking for a way to ride on the back of someone, take advantage of their name get rich on it or make a lot of money at it."

Welles said, “That's exactly what the Super Bowl champion Steelers of the '70s think Pittsburgh native Joe Gill did to them.”

They claim he booked them to speak at local school assemblies and never paid them for their appearances.

Banaszak told Welles, “Joe Gill owes me about $10,000."

Cole said Gill owes him, “Well over $10,000."

Both say they stopped doing the assemblies when Gill stopped paying them.

What Banaszak didn't know until Welles told him is that Gill kept booking him for assemblies.

In the Bethlehem Center school district copies of canceled checks show Gill cashed two $750 checks then disappeared and the school never got an assembly.

Lynn Berdar, PTA president, said, "There was a transmission company that answered the phone when I tried to call one number and the address came up as you know nothing to do with him whatsoever. All the other numbers were either disconnected, same thing with the e-mail."

But Target 11 was able to find Gill. He's locked up in a federal prison in Petersburg, Va.

Welles uncovered court documents that show Gill was originally sentenced to federal prison for mail and bank fraud back in 1997.

Once out, Gill was arrested again last spring in an alleged bad checks scheme. Now he's back behind bars until October 2008.

Banaszak told Welles, “I feel bad that Beth Center was involved in this and I want to make good on it."

According to court documents obtained by Target 11, Gill owes more than $1 million to people all over the country.