Tammy Ann Domenick, of Troutman, has been charged with six counts of felony obtaining property by false pretenses, in connection with a charity event that was supposed to be held near Lake Norman.
The case started in July, when the office received a report from a person who claimed they were scammed out of charity money.
The person's mother told deputies she met Domenick online, and Domenick presented herself as a highly skilled marketing professional from the New York metropolitan area, investigators said. The mother said she told Domenick that her daughter was suffering from a terminal illness, and Domenick then offered to start a fundraising campaign for her.
The initial plan was to host an event in Mooresville called “LKN Fest” to gain sponsors and help raise money for the daughter.
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A detective with the Iredell County Sheriff's Office interviewed vendors and sponsors who were part of the event. Some
of them
had donated money, jewelry, clothes, photo booths, health products and food to LKN Fest. The detective obtained financial statements and bank receipts from the vendors, investigators said.
The vendors had a promissory contract from Domenick stating that LKN Fest was going to be a sold-out event. Smaller "sip-n-shop" events were supposed to build up buzz for the main festival. However, none of that came to pass.
"All of the vendors and the victim’s mother said the smaller events were a failure, and LKN Fest never manifested into what Domenick stated," the sheriff's office said. Vendors did not see any financial return on investment, and the family didn’t receive any donation money. There’s currently almost $29,175 unaccounted for.
Domenick has shut down all of her business’s social media pages and no longer lives in North Carolina, the sheriff's office said. Investigators say they learned that she now lives in Arizona and started a company similar to the one she was operating in North Carolina.
Domenick was arrested in Arizona by local law enforcement and is now fighting extradition back to North Carolina.
