The two ringleaders of a charity scam at Petco Park have pleaded guilty to their role in a conspiracy first exposed by Voice of San Diego in 2023.
Martin Rebollo and Noly Ilarde both pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. Rebollo also pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns and Social Security fraud.
Rebollo and Ilarde admitted in their plea agreements that a fake softball league they operated brought in roughly $3.75 million.
The scam worked like this: Rebollo and Ilarde provided supposed volunteers through their fake charity Chula Vista Fast Pitch to work at concession stands at Petco Park and Snapdragon Stadium, as Voice reported. Charities engaged in this type of work collect roughly 10 percent of the proceeds from their concessions stands. That money is supposed then end up in the charity’s bank account to further its mission.
The only problem: Rebollo and Ilarde’s charity didn’t exist. In place of volunteers, they were paying workers roughly $50 per game under the table and then splitting the rest of the proceeds between themselves, as they admitted in the plea agreements.
Jeffrey Hill, the federal prosecutor on the case, confirmed that Voice’s reporting was the genesis for the criminal investigation, which confirmed many of the details in Voice’s stories.
“It takes a lot of time to get the necessary financial records and track them down,” he said. “The wheels of justice can be slow, but they were successful in this case.”
At the time Voice exposed Chula Vista Fast Pitch, it operated more concession stands in Petco Park than any other charity. It first began staffing stands in 2016.
Between 2016 and 2023, Petco’s concessionaire Delaware North paid out roughly $3.5 million to Rebollo and Ilarde, investigators found.
Rebollo and Ilarde’s operation at Petco Park grew considerably after the pandemic, Hill said.
“It stands to reason that part of the reason is that in 2021 and 2022 it was harder to find folks to come out and [work in concession stands] during a public health crisis,” Hill said. “There was an opportunity for them.”
In 2022 alone, Ilarde failed to claim $1.4 million on his tax returns, according to the plea agreement.
In 2023, Chula Vista Fast Pitch was on track to have one of its best years yet, Hill said. After Voice’s story broke in August, however, officials kicked Chula Vista Fast Pitch out of Petco and Snapdragon.
Snapdragon paid out roughly $260,000 to Rebollo and Ilarde between 2022 and 2023.
Rebollo’s name was on most of the paperwork related to Chula Vista Fast Pitch, but prosecutors considered he and Ilarde to be co-equals in the scheme, Hill said.
Rebollo pleaded guilty to Social Security fraud, because he was receiving disability payments while making money through Chula Vista Fast Pitch.
He personally gained more than $1.5 million from the scam, according to the plea agreement. He agreed to pay back roughly $540,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.
Ilarde pleaded guilty to personally receiving more than $550,000. His plea agreement did not stipulate any payback to the IRS, because he was not charged with tax fraud.
Rebollo is scheduled to be sentenced in June. Ilarde is scheduled for sentencing in late May.