The Clark County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the organizer of the recent Vancouver Outdoor Expo on possible theft allegations for promising crowds that didn’t turn up March 28-30 at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds.
“Our investigation is going to focus on if there was any type of criminal activity that took place there,” Sgt. Chris Skidmore said during a Wednesday press conference at the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in Vancouver. “We’re just starting that process, and we’ll get more into that this week as we continue to reach out.”
The sheriff’s office is treating the incident as a potential “theft-by-deception” case, Skidmore said.
Washington law states that theft can mean “by color or aid of deception to obtain control over the property or services of another or the value thereof, with intent to deprive him or her of such property or services.”
The sheriff’s office has contacted about two dozen vendors, some of whom paid up to $2,500 for their booth, Skidmore said.
“I’ve seen some text messages that were shared that show the event organizer had made some promises about 40,000-plus pre-sold tickets with expected volumes of 60,000 to 65,000,” he said. “Does that meet the criteria of using deception, to essentially deceive vendors out of the registration fee that they paid?”
Skidmore said fairground managers told him approximately 2,000 people at most attended the event.
He said the vendors his agency has interviewed “are very upset.”
“Obviously, they feel very impacted. They feel like they were lied to. They feel like they were cheated on this for sure,” Skidmore said.
He said the sheriff’s office purchased a booth at the expo for $500 but “pulled out of there” on the second of the three days, “when a lot of the other vendors left based on attendance.”
“It was not a great use of our people’s time,” Skidmore said.
The sheriff’s office has not yet attempted to reach out to the event’s organizer, Shane Barbour, Skidmore said.
“Our officers spoke with him on Saturday (at the expo),” he said. “He said, ‘I can’t give you direct numbers. We’re having some problems with our system right now.’ There weren’t a lot of direct answers given to the deputy.”
Skidmore said the sheriff’s office heard from vendors that the same thing happened at an event in Pierce County.
Pierce County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Carly Cappetto said her agency has taken informational reports but doesn’t have an open criminal case against Barbour.
“What’s been reported is services are being promised and the recipient is receiving some type of service, but it’s not what they thought they were getting and/or told what they were getting,” she said. “These issues must be addressed in civil court.”
