BROOKVILLE, Ind. — Less than one week after the FBI raided a Brookville man's home, accusing him of defrauding hundreds of people through his pickleball business, we spoke with a woman who gave the alleged scammer $25,000 to invest in his company.
The FBI said its agents are looking to identify any potential victims who may have invested with Rodney Grubbs, the former owner of Pickleball Rocks. Several investors have filed lawsuits against Grubbs already, court records show.
On Monday, Teri Siewert told us she and her husband were two investors who realized they were conned and got their money back.
"We just thought he was this great Christian family man," she said. "That's how he presented himself. I've come to know that's a persona and not who he really is."
Years ago, the couple from The Villages, Florida, met Grubbs at a pickleball tournament in Athens, Georgia. They eventually became friends, with Grubbs asking them to invest in his business.
"He would kind of sort of absent-mindedly mention, 'You know, well sometimes I get these opportunities with my business ... there's only six people but if I get an opportunity would you be interested?'" Siewert said.
The couple, avid pickleball players, decided to invest $25,000 in Pickleball Rocks in March 2019 after Grubbs gave them a PowerPoint presentation showing his vision for the future and plans to expand the apparel business and bring the sport into schools. Siewert showed us the promissory note from Grubbs showing he would pay them 12% interest.
"This was his big pitch — 'I've hired Kevin Lindley from Reebok, he's going into the schools, we're growing pickleball,' and this appealed to a lot of people," Siewert said.
The Siewerts were supposed to get paid in 2020, but days turned into months and then years. They said they contacted Grubbs multiple times about the money, but said he would blow them off. Then, Siewert said she ran into Grubbs at a pickleball tournament last year.
"I'm walking down the thoroughfare and he's literally soliciting a person in front of me. I hear '12% interest,' you know, oh my god and I stepped between them," said Siewert.
She explained that at the time, Grubbs was considered a mover and shaker in the pickleball world, and few questioned his credibility.
"The lady I tried to warn, I said, 'Please don't do this. We've been trying to get our money for three years now, and she goes, 'I think you're being highly inappropriate here,' and he's laughing out loud behind me like this is the funniest thing that he's ever heard. It was very bizarre it was very concerning," said Siewert. "At some point, I just had to confront him, I said, 'I think you're a conman.'"
Siewert said they got their money back after posting what happened to them on social media. She said people started contacting them also claiming Grubbs gave them a similar pitch, but never got paid.
In January, Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales issued a cease and desist order to Grubbs "to stop an alleged fraudulent investment scheme concerning a pickleball apparel and equipment company All About Pickleball LLC., also known as 'Pickleball Rocks.'"
The petition alleges Grubbs solicited investments in the form of promissory notes from investors that "contained a high interest rate of 12% compounded monthly and contained an 18% penalty provision in the case of default."
Grubbs allegedly met and solicited investors at pickleball tournaments; many of those investors have not been repaid, according to the Secretary of State's office.
Last Wednesday, FBI agents searched Grubbs' home in Brookville. On Monday, we went back there but no one answered the door. Meanwhile, Siewert is calling on others to tell their story.
"Somebody does somebody wrong, it's not so much about me at that point it's about what could happen to someone else and I am not going to sit by and let them be hurt," said Siewert.
WCPO also found in federal bankruptcy records that Grubbs owes nearly $47 million to various people across the U.S.
