Cleveland Radio: Sports Talker JG Spooner Pleads Guilty

 J G Spooner

 A former Cleveland sports radio producer and on-air personality pleaded guilty Monday to stealing more than $7,000 from a fundraiser he started for a woman suffering from cystic fibrosis.

Joseph Spooner, known to listeners of WKRK 92.3 FM The Fan as "J.G. Spooner," pleaded guilty to money laundering and petty theft. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Brian Corrigan will sentence Spooner Dec. 6.

According to cleveland.com, Spooner was fired by the radio station after he was charged in the case.

Spooner set up the GoFundMe account in February 2015 for Allyson Thadeus-Zappe, a childhood friend who was battling cystic fibrosis. He funneled every donation made to the campaign into his own bank account, according to police reports. He contacted Thadeus-Zappe's family and offered to use his status as a local celebrity to help them.

The family agreed, and Spooner launched the campaign in his name and raised about $7,300. Thadeus-Zappe died in July 2015.

The family waited several months for Spooner to transfer the money to an account they established, but it never came.The family confronted Spooner several times, and each time he denied that he had the money, police said.

Spooner said GoFundMe still had control of the donations. He also offered other excuses, including a busy work schedule and technical problems with his phone and email, according to Broadview Heights police.

Spooner became increasingly uncooperative and avoided the family's calls and emails.

Broadview Heights detectives contacted GoFundMe as part of their investigation and found that Spooner was banned from the site over a fraud complaint.