When a man contacted Spokane ABC affiliate KXLY about giving away $5,000 every week as part of his “Give Project”
He told the station he wanted to remain anonymous. Monday, reporter Aaron Luna rode along with him as he handed out nearly $2,000 in cash to the homeless. He also promised free iPhone6+’s. Turns out homeless advocates who were against the stunt had nothing to fear.
Tuesday the station learned his real name. KXLY reports, Edward Carmine Jarzabek “has a history of committing fraud and theft and is on parole for multiple felony counts in Idaho.”
Jarzabek told KXLY4’s Aaron Luna that he earned the money through smart business decisions. But, his criminal past raises serious questions about the origin of the stacks of cash he showed off to kxly4 cameras. He’s been convicted several times of writing bad checks from accounts he knew were closed, as a way to get cash from banks. Each time he was released from prison, court records show he began operating a similar scheme. According to the Idaho Department of Corrections, he was released to supervision in July and allowed to live in Washington.
In a court filing from Ada County filed in 2013, prosecutors say “Jarzabek has attempted to gloss over and sugar coat his actions to everyone he has spoken to, changing his story on a whim to suit whatever audience is currently listening to him. He has no problem lying to his friends, to his parole officer, to the Court, to his attorneys, or to anyone else if he believes it will get him where he wants to go.”
In addition to the crime for which he served prison time, Jazrabek’s extensive criminal history includes numerous traffic offenses, failing to register vehicles and leaving the scene of an accident where someone was injured without rendering aid. He also filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy collection in Idaho in 2004, listing nearly $50,000 in debt to 11 pages worth of creditors.
Since his release from prison, Jarzabek has registered a business with the Washington Secretary of State’s Office. It’s called Tier 1 North LTD.