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Thousands of dollars missing from kids track club

ATLANTA — Young athletes’ dreams of going to the Junior Olympic Games in Iowa may be crushed -- their coach says thousands of dollars to pay for their trip disappeared.

“It would be devastating. You have to understand some of these kids have been training since November in 18-degree weather,” said coach Ethan Moore.

He coached AMP Track Club, based in Atlanta, but they have children from all over the metro area.

Several weeks ago, the coach says a board member, who managed the teams’ funds, suddenly left.

“We have the books, and my thing is, I don’t want to throw anyone under the bus, but I know it is not right,” Moore said.

A parent showed Channel 2's Rachel Stockman the last financial statement, sent by the board member, which was kind of a mess, because many numbers didn’t add up correctly. It appeared the team had nearly $3,000 in funds.

“It is not adding up,” said parent Krystal Fowlkes.

When the board member left, and the coach asked for the balance, he says the team got a check for $65.

“Now you are leaving these babies - basically hanging,” said Darwin Pompey, another parent.

It is not clear what happened to the money.

Channel 2 Action News spoke with the board member who didn't want to be identified. She said there were never any funds in the account to begin with.

When Channel 2 Action News tried the board member’s cellphone, it was disconnected. But the children haven’t stopped training hard, hoping for their chance at gold.

“The community is strong, and we are going to pull together and do what we can for our babies to ensure they get to go where they need to go,” Moore said.

The coach and parents said they didn’t want to get police involved. They're hoping that the funds will turn back up.