It's really a shame that I have to make this blog, but it's absolutely necessary to warn people about one Jon P. Toriumi, because he wrecked a lot of people's lives here in our town of Pahoa, on the Big Island of Hawaii. Not to mention, he seems to have targeted a good amount of members from our small church, Grassroots Church.
I'm going to recount stories of how he has victimized literally over 40 individuals here, these are people that I know about and have spoken to. The real number of victims is likely much higher. But first, I'm going to say this in the beginning, in the middle, and also at the end:
Every single person I name here is in fact, a real person. I have phone numbers for each and every one of these people. I say this because I know JT has a way of using fancy business, entrepreneurial and/or Christian vernacular that can be very persuasive. As I've kept in touch with people in Ventura, CA I have heard him claim that he's being "framed" by us Hawaiian victims. This is just one instance of how he may try to cover himself and tell a sob story of Hawaii instead of telling the truth of how he came and ravaged people's lives, mostly financially but also very personally. So I'll say it again before I begin: every single one of these people has had their life severely injured by JT. JT and no one else. I will post first names, and I will post my own contact information, so get in contact with me if you'd like to confirm any of these allegations. I have a list of names and phone numbers in front of me, the same list I gave to the detective on JT's case. (Case #CO7009058, Crime Unit: 808.961.2255)
Let's begin with direct questions I'd like to ask JT. Unfortunately he hasn't returned any calls or answered any emails since he fled. I figure this a good way for others to understand the unanswered questions regarding his stay in Hawaii.
Where's Ray's car? Are you still driving that around? License plate 4Jb749 I believe. You promised Ray a car here in Hawaii, and that hasn't happened. Ray made the mistake of signing over the title in good faith to a Christian brother. JT, you stole Ray's car, legally.
Where's Eddie's business that you took over? Oh yeah, you sunk it and took all the money including the tip jar, change, and the change drawer. For all the blog readers, that's been estimated at $40,000. Preposterous? Call me, and I'll be happy to give you phone numbers to the people involved. Yeah JT, just to fill you in Eddie lost the business after you took over. He was only 2 years away from owning all the equipment. That was to be his retirement.
Why do you claim to be the Project Director of the Mosaic Project for the Hawaiian Islands? You handed out business cards with Mosaic Project, and your title as Project Director. I contacted staff at the Mosaic Project and pestered them until they finally called back. They have never heard of you, you are not a part of the Mosaic Project, and there is no Mosaic Project for the Hawaiian Islands. Was this title something you made up? That's what we call deception.
Where's my $2,100? I'm in credit card debt because I trusted a friend I had known for over a year. You have some debts to pay off, chief.
Where's Janice's $3,000+? She almost lost her house because of your lies and scams. I'm sure she'd be happy to cooperate in confirming this. I'm not about to post everyone's confidential contact emails and phone numbers without their permission, but for all you readers, just call me and I'll ask permission and pass it along.
Where's the rest of the money you owe Anna? Remember the pregnant 18-year-old you never paid wages to? Remember how her boyfriend beat her up, and then you sold her car out from under her to pay off another employees wages? Yes, that did happen. Besides the wages for work, where's the other $300 you owe Anna for her car? That's not a very nice thing to do to an 18-year-old 8-month pregnant needy young lady. (I know this story probably sounds fabricated because it's so awful, but Anna has agreed to be helpful in any way possible. Also, as the reader of this blog you'll be happy to know that people have donated their own pocket money to Anna so she can afford diapers and shelter. Unfortunately she was homeless in Tennessee after JT was done with her.)
Where's the money you owe Luna for cooking breakfast at the pizza shop day after day after day? This laborer deserves her wages, and giving over Anna's car isn't even close to a legitimate payment.
Where's Christian's brown truck? Yeah, the same truck you sold to Richard for $1,600 without Christian's permission. Even if we find the brown truck, then where's Richard's $1,600?
Where's Christian's jackhammer? You said you were going to ship it over with Snowbird. I talked to John at Snowbird, there were never such plans.
Where's Matt's motorcycle you traded for the brown Jeep? Matt had to sell his brand new motorcycle jacket and helmet once he realized you had outright lied about a container being sent over here.
Once again, I'd like to remind all of you that except for three street people I will mention later, each and every person here is real and verifiable.
Where's Tommy's $800? I saw him yesterday, he might lose his truck.
Where's Ophelia's money for rent? You told us (the employees) you couldn't pay any of us because of rent, past bills, etc. And yet neither rent, telephone, or electricity was ever paid. Preposterous? I'll see if I can arrange to get copies of the overdue bills.
Where's Lizeth's money? I wish you could have seen her ball her eyes out at church once she finally realized you were the scam artist we'd all hoped you weren't. She stuck with you to the bitter end; the very last one to believe in the good in you. But besides the mushy stuff, where's her money? The pizza shop was her one and only job to which she worked tirelessly, and she too deserves her wages.
Whose red car is that you left here, and where are the keys? I wish we could give it to one of the needy workers, but there are no keys and we don't know whose name this car is under.
If you're not running from anything, why haven't you contacted anyone from the close-knit group of friends here?
Where are the keys to the purple truck you promised to sell off to pay me? Thanks for promising that money to me, it turned out to be a clever decoy because a person can't sell a car without a title nor the keys. That car got stolen off the side of the road, I'll have you know.
What about manager Dave's money? Dave worked ultra hard, chipping in his own money at times just to keep the pizza shop running. You'll hear part of his story in this blog, I hope.
Where's Zach's payment for labor done on the cabin? The laborer deserves his wages.
What about Jose's money? Remember the hardworking high school kid who worked for a month and was paid a total of $50? I think he deserves his wages as well.
Where's Lee's money? You knew Lee was leaving for the mainland. Lee, Matt, and I had a meeting with you where we confirmed the time of payment three times. You ditched that meeting and then took off on a plane. Lee hadn't been paid anything the entire time he worked. You owe Lee over a thousand bucks, bucko. He barely squeezed by getting a ticket to the mainland.
Where's DJ's money? Remember how you had him working on inventory as a job? Well he never got paid a penny. He also deserves his wages.
Where's our Craftsman tool set? Did you really abscond with that on the airplane too? Or is it stashed at the Oceanview cabin?
What about Kimo's money? I met up with him to find out you gave him a little less than half of what he earned. How nice of you, but you still owe him what you promised, no exceptions.
What about big Billy's money? Like me, big Billy helped out at the pizza shop after you left, trying to help pick up the pieces of a broken business you left. I'll say it again: he too deserves his wages.
And delivery-driver Billy's money? Also, like big Billy and I he came to help after the JT catastrophe and deserves his wages.
What about paying Mack? He was evicted from his house because you never paid him. You were nice enough to let him squat with you in the back room of the pizza place, but you still never paid him.
Why did you want to trade Eddie, Moses, and Billy work for pizza, and then end up working them hundreds of hours? These people I speak of don't have cell phones, they wander the streets, and were easy targets for free labor. It's abhorrent how much you've taken advantage of the local people in Pahoa. You can't expect to take advantage of needy people, work them regular jobs, and never pay them cash. That is trickery.
What about Stephanie? She too was evicted from her place because of your negligence to pay employees. But if you never paid utilities or rent, then how was there no money?
Why would you spend over a year building solid Christian friendships and trust, and then leave breaking off all contact? Are you a true scam artist?
The big question, folks, is where did all the money go. And there's only one obvious answer: Jon Toriumi. Sure, the business was not making much money before he took over, but he can't possibly claim that all the expenses went to inventory. This is a business that had been running and paying employees for years. The question remains, where did all the money go?
JT has a lot of people to pay back, he has a lot of problems to fix. I'm fine with it if he wants to come back, apologize, work a real job and pay everyone back.
What I'm not fine with is him ditching the final meeting where he had promised.. PROMISED each employee to get paid. And then ditching the mandatory meeting between shop owners, property owners, mediators, and pastors to talk about what was going on.
What I'm not fine with is him never returning our calls or emails, breaking off all contact to the entire crew in Hawaii.
And I'm not fine with him fleeing to the Oxnard airport with tens of thousands of dollars.
The people he affected weren't affluent suckers who bought into a pyramid scheme or "legit" MLM network. The people whose money he took were poor, lower class, mostly Christian people of the town. He really put a hurt on everyone's lives. This story is 100% true.
If I have made any mistakes or exaggerations, please correct me.
Wondering how I know all this? How could a person possibly keep up with JT's victim list? Here's a hint:
My name is Mike Purvis. My phone number is (808) 987-9854. My email can be reached at whereisjt@gmail.com
1 comment:
Thank you Mike for putting it all into words so eloequntly. This is Janice Tancredi and I knew and trusted JT completely so much so that I asked him to stay at my house while I sent to Canada and I come home to caos. I met JT about a year or so ago and he was a regular at "Eddie's Pizza" and then became close to Eddie and myself actually he began to mentor Eddie and ended up taking over the pizza shop for eddie to supposably to help him. In the meantime I was inbetween jobs but was offered a 20 dollar an hour job in Kona (I'm a pastry chef) but didn't really want to commute but was excited about starting a new job. Well, JT talked me into comming back to the pizza shop to help him out and since I once worked there I was very familiar with the business and woulf be a big help to him and while he couldn't match what I would make in Kona he would make it worth it to me. So I decided to help out a friend and take the job with JT, a man that I trusted completely. well, I also really believed in the pizza shop and knew the potential amd wanted to see it do well as it did once before.. weks went by and JT would complain how he couldn't pay the employees and asked if he could postpone paying me for a few days amd because I trusted him and wanted the pizza shop to do well I relunctantly agreed well, the weeks turned into more and more weeks and as it turned out 2 months went by without pay. I then went on a trip to Canada and when I came home he was gone and so was our money and our jobs, Along with pink slips to our vehicles. JT shame on you, I hope you read this and I hope that you get what you deserve. You could have had life long friends here and you chose to take the money over friendships... is it really worth it? You are a sad man and you made so many people sad and now I feel like I can't trust anyone....
I called JT so many times, not wanting to believe what he had done but there is no excuss and no way to deny it, he has wrecked so many lives.. shame on you JT!!!
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