‘It has caused me a lot of anger.’ Alleged victim of Sports & Imports fraud speaks out

Police said Thursday that 29 victims have come forward in the fraud case against Sama Moore of Sports & Imports in Columbus.

Moore was arrested on November 16 and now faces a total of 53 charges from 29 victims, according to police.

Police said the amount of losses now total over $1.1 million.

Ballarie Ingram alleges to be one of Moore’s victims.

Ingram said she originally bought one vehicle from Sports & Imports but things went wrong afterwards.

“It has caused me a lot of anger that I don’t normally go through,” Ingram said.

Ingram said she purchased the first vehicle from Sports & Imports in September of 2022 before that car was later involved in an accident. Ingram said after the accident her nephew looked at a BMW from Moore but didn’t want the car.

Ingram said she called Moore and told Moore that she didn’t want the car.

“I called her and I told her that I did not want the car and she said, ‘Well I’ve already sent the information over.’ I said how could you do that because I haven’t signed any papers, and she said, ‘I used your signature from the first car,’” Ingram said.

“I trusted her, I trusted that she was telling me the truth when she said that the car would be taken off,” said Ingram.

“It’s still on my credit. It has damaged my credit,” Ingram said.

Ingram said she has always had good credit but it has suffered going from an excellent credit rating down to to fair.

Ingram said the bank has since been sending late notices which she said have caused her stress.

“I just don’t understand how could she do that to so many people and mess up their lives,” Ingram said.

Police response

“This is probably the biggest case I’ve ever worked,” Sgt. Jane Edenfield said she told herself one day. “I’ve been here 17 years, I’ve been doing fraud off and on for 10, and this is by far the biggest that I’ve ever been apart of.”

“One of the victims from a couple of weeks ago he’s an 18-year-old kid, saved it up so he could buy a car to go to and from work,” Edenfield said.

Edenfield said the issues with Sports & Imports have occurred for “years and years.”

Moore appeared in Columbus Recorder’s Court for a second time Thursday afternoon. Her attorney, Rod Skiff, entered a not guilty plea on his client’s behalf to the new charges brought against her since her last hearing.

The case was bound over to Superior Court by Judge David Ranieri. Moore is expected to appear in Superior Court at 9 a.m. on Tuesday for a bond hearing, according to Edenfield.