JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Less than 24 hours after a dozen brides came forward and said they had lost thousands of dollars to Alphonso Morris, with A&T Enterprise, for wedding photography they never got, the founder of Academy of Scholars, a private school in Arlington, claimed Morris also ripped her off.
“At this time, it needs to be stopped. There’s too many people that trust him,” Shevonica Howell said.
Howell said she hired Morris in 2016 to be the band director at her school.
“I did see some red flags, I’ll be honest, on the background check, but things happen,” Howell said.
After at least a dozen brides have come forward claiming Alphonso Morris scammed them out of thousands of dollars, now a CEO of a local private school says she was also scammed @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/YLucm3ugaB
— Danielle Avitable (@Danielle_NBC4) June 6, 2018
But after he didn’t show up to work for 19 of the 44 instructional days, he was fired.
“He probably had about 10 kids based on how many times there was a birth or a death. I just couldn’t understand that,” Howell said.
When he left, she said, he took all the band equipment that was donated to the school.
She said she then found out he created a GoFundMe account with the school’s logo asking for donations.
The woman tells me he hired Alphonso Morris to be the band director at her school. She ended up firing him and she claims he stole the band equipment @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/qADyvNXqXi
— Danielle Avitable (@Danielle_NBC4) June 6, 2018
“To scam the community, kids that look up to him -- I don’t understand that,” Howell said.
Howell said she went to police and never heard from Morris again.
The Better Business Bureau has created a file on Morris’ businesses to help warn others.
“To hear that there were dozens of people scammed by this company and we weren’t reflecting that, was disheartening,” Shannon Nelson with the Better Business Bureau said.
Action News Jax also found Morris was connected to another business called Snap It Photography.
She says he also created a gofundme account asking for donations with the school logo that she says she didn’t authorize @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/Xzt6IUs8Ma
— Danielle Avitable (@Danielle_NBC4) June 6, 2018
A lawsuit was filed that claims Morris didn’t show up to photograph an event and it states, “This young man turned out to be a con artist."
The BBB wants people to contact the agency with complaints against Morris.
Action News Jax tried to contact to Morris again, but couldn’t get in touch with him.
The BBB now opened a file on the business Alphonso Morris owns and wants people to come forward with complaints they have: https://t.co/pQywrrWlNA @ActionNewsJax pic.twitter.com/Lkk3hTIdht
— Danielle Avitable (@Danielle_NBC4) June 6, 2018
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