Vancouver Outdoor Expo being investigated for fraud, Clark County officials say

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — More than a week after KOIN 6 News broke the story about vendors accusing the Vancouver Outdoor Expo of leaving them high and dry, the Clark County Sheriff's Office announced on Wednesday that they are investigating the event for fraud allegations.

The three-day event at the Clark County Fairgrounds held earlier this year was billed as "the biggest show in the Northwest" with celebrity guests. However, vendors say they lost money after promises of thousands of attendees did not come to fruition.

In a phone interview with KOIN 6, organizer Shane Barbour denied any wrongdoing. However, he did acknowledge that the turnout was below his expectations. Barbour said he's in the process of refunding vendors for four other expos.

In the past couple of weeks, vendors have vented their frustration to KOIN 6, with some saying they're out thousands of dollars and struggling to survive as a small business.

"They feel like they were lied to, they feel like they were cheated," said Sgt. Chris Skidmore with the Clark County Sheriff's Office.

Hundreds of vendors reported similar stories, with Corey D Lehr of Monarch Hunting Products even saying his company "lost $20,000 to get up here."

Many of the vendors have accused Barbour of luring them to the event with the promise of big exposure and heavy foot traffic. However, when the three-day expo took place during the last weekend of March, it was nearly empty, as shown in video taken from the event.

"He sold people hopes and dreams, told them we had 54,000 tickets sold, told people to bring more than enough inventory because we're going to be selling the mess out of it. Didn't happen," Lehr said.

The Clark County Sheriff's Office even witnessed the disappointing attendance levels firsthand as they attended the expo, purchasing a recruitment booth for $500. They said at most, 2,000 people attended. Now the sheriff's office is investigating the event as a potential theft-by-deception case.

"The organizer made promises about 40,000+ pre-sold tickets with expected volumes of 60-65,000," Skidmore said. "So, what we're going to do is we're going to find a couple examples from the groups that we've contacted and see if those will meet the criteria for the PA's office."

The sheriff's office said they're working with the Clark County Fairgrounds to figure out how many tickets were sold.

"We're aware of some other investigations going on in Pierce County, we reached out to them," Skidmore said.

Pierce County Sheriff's Deputy Carly Cappettoo told KOIN 6 News they are familiar with Barbour. They said a report about the Vancouver expo came in last December. However, they said that so far, the complaints against Barbour have been civil rather than criminal.

"We have cautioned our community against going into any contract or business with this particular subject. But at this time, we just- we don't have a crime and/or a victim," Cappettoo said.

KOIN 6 asked Barbour if he had a response to the investigation. He said, "Nope, not at this time. We have done nothing wrong, there was no fraud."

KOIN 6 will continue to follow the investigation as it unfolds.