Complaint Review: Sam Rines Rise Basketball Academy

Our son was a 2011 graduate here in the state of Texas and we were contacted by Vinnie Sparacio who had previously made contact with our son's aau basketball coach inquiring about him. Vinnie pretty much had received some background on our son. So when he contacted us, he talked about how Rise Academy would be a great fit for him and he will have a chance to become a better basketball player playing ball on the East Coast. He said prep school is a great option since he had no Division 1 offers yet.

He then told us how Rise Academy will definitely get our son a Division 1 scholarship because of his talents. He proceeded to tell us that he will have the head coach Sam Rines to contact us because he is very interested in our son attending Rise Academy as well.

So we did have the opportunity to talk with Sam Rines and he talked with us first about his school tuition. He told us our fee will be $15,000 and that he was giving us a break because the fee is really more than that. So we thought to ourselves “this is a lot of money” but whatever way we could help our son fulfill his basketball dream of playing Division 1 basketball it was worth it.

So I borrowed money from my retirement to cover the fee however, I was only allowed to take out $12,000. So I contacted Sam Rines to let him know that I did not have the $15,000 only $12,000 and we have no additional funds coming in.

He then told me he will take the $12,000 and the other $3,000 he will wave. So we wired the money to Sam Rines bank account he has through Bank of America.

Well we were also told to check out the website regarding the living arrangements, school fees, and testimonials. However to our surprise things was not what they seemed.

We were told our son will be attending a Community College to get credits he can transfer to a Division 1 school however, he never attending school at a community college, not one day.

We were told food expenses were covered however, that was a lie. The boys had to buy their own food and some didn’t even have money to buy food.

We were told the living arrangements were some lavish apartments however, that was a lie. These boys were living in an old 3 story house infested with rodents, no hot water, no food, no heat, and the van they traveled in was horrible to even travel in on the road.

My son lived in horrible conditions in Willow Grove, PA. He even traveled by himself from the airport, to the train station, and then to the house at 10PM. No child should have to experience this type of behavior from adults who were paid to look after him. This type of care giving is unacceptable by Sam Rines and his so called staff.

So to make a long story short our son lived in Willow Grove, PA for 3 months and received nothing but workouts at LA Fitness, a few games, and long road trips in an old van. We eventually removed our son from this so called Prep School and brought him home.

We made contact with Sam Rines regarding a refund of our money however, we were unsuccessful. He only made excuses and tried to scam us out of more money saying our son received lots of training that was worth more than $12,000.  So we contacted the Attorney General in Pennsylvania and were told that we would need to hire an attorney in the state of Pennsylvania to better support our case. Well as you know that can get expensive.

Something has to be done to stop these types of scams. People are using their hard earned money, taking out loans, etc. to help their children, and you have people like Vinnie Sparacio and Sam Rines swindling people out of their money. This is not right. I am willing to be contacted and share my story to stop these individuals from scamming other families.