Man accused of duping Iowa City schools for advertising

An Illinois man accused of running a marketing scam involving Iowa City high schools was taken into custody Monday morning.

Tony Phiathep, 33, of Silvis, Ill., was booked in Johnson County Jail around 10 a.m. today and charged with three counts of second-degree theft.

The scam was first reported in early October after a man identified as Phiathep posed posed as a representative of two Iowa City high schools, trying to sell advertising for their football teams through a company called Blitz Marketing. He promised businesses that he would place their company name on the back of T-shirts that were to be given out at West High and City High football games. The businesses were told they would receive exclusive audio commercials over the loudspeakers before, during and after the games.

Phiathep would call the businesses before meeting with them and would often put together detailed invoices and marketing proposals for their review, police said.

John Logan, owner of Russ' Northside Service located at 305 N. Gilbert Street said Phiathep approached him in June with the a phony proposition.

“He was really very convincing,” Logan told SourceMedia in October. “He talked a good game.”

Logan had been interested in purchasing high school football advertising for a long time, so he signed up.

“He wrote me a really nice looking invoice and I wrote him a really nice looking check,” Logan said in October. “That's the last I heard from him.”

After police were alerted of the alleged scam, it was confirmed with the Iowa City school district that none of its schools had any affiliations with Phiathep or Blitz Marketing, and that the commercials and T-shirts did not exist.

After the scam was initially reported, at least 13 businesses came forward claiming they had been duped by Phiathep. Most of the companies were in Johnson County, though victims extended all the way up to Cedar Rapids.

Iowa City police Sgt. Brotherton said a warrant for Phiathep's arrest was notarized Nov. 29. She said she did not know if Phiathep turned himself to authorities or if he brought in after being arrested.

Phiathep is being held in Johnson County Jail on a $15,000 cash only bond.