Tyler Cooper’s son, Treven, was a proud member of the New Port Richey Buccaneers.
Curtis Frantz was his coach.
“Really seemed like a really nice guy. He loved the kids and the kids loved him,” she said.
Cooper thought so much of the coach, she jumped at an investment opportunity he offered her this summer.
“I thought not only was I helping my family, but I thought I was helping what I considered a friend out,” she said.
She said she gave Frantz $10,000 to help his butcher shop supply meat for a big food festival in Miami.
The return was supposed to be double or triple what she put in.
But New Port Richey police said it was a fraud.
The butcher shop had closed months before.
And they said Frantz used a fake invoice for a contract he didn’t have.
They said he also forged a letter from Bank of America.
After a couple of months Cooper realized the money she hoped to use toward a new home was gone.
“It makes me mad. It really put my family through a hardship,” she said.
Not only is Cooper out $10,000, but she said before the season she gave the coach $500 bucks for football equipment.
But her son never got it.
And to top it all, Cooper said Frantz even bailed on the Buccaneers, leaving the team in the middle of the season with no coach and no explanation.
“For him just to take off and they were having such a great season. Not only did it leave the kids hurt that he left them, but the parents were like what’s going on,” she said.
Following his Christmas day arrest, Frantz got out on bond.
We talked to him on the phone Friday. He said he’s going to fight the charges. But wouldn’t say what happened to the $10,000.
Pasco’s Police Athletic league said Frantz won’t be allowed to coach with them ever again.
