Parents feel scammed by local pageant director
GLEASON, Tenn. — Several parents say they fell victim to a local children’s pageant scam. “She friended me really fast, and she was very likeable, believable, sweet girl,” Brenda Arnold, a grandparent of a pageant contestant told us. Arnold says she feels betrayed by a woman she befriended while her granddaughter was doing pageants. In August, Arnold’s granddaughter was supposed to compete in a pageant put on by director Dana Brown. That pageant got rescheduled because of the pageant director’s health issues. “We gave her the benefit of the doubt. She rescheduled and cancelled again, after she got more people to sign up to get more money,” Arnold explained. The pageant was cancelled agin, and parents didn’t get their money back. Although Brown wouldn’t go on camera, she did speak to us over the phone. Brown claimes she did nothing wrong, because her online PayPal account she uses to collect money clearly states entry fees are non-refundable. Some parents say they’ll be more careful in the future. “I’m more cautious about the pre-pays, but I tell al ot of moms to ask a lot of questions and if a pageant has been known to cancel and postpone dates, I don’t do them,” Audrey Tucker, a pageant mom, said. Tucker said there are things she looks for before paying. “I’m more cautious and more aware. I do more research now, I do pageants that I know either have been trusted or in business for a long time,” Tucker explained. For Arnold, she feels Brown has tried to ruin a fun thing for her to do with her granddaughter. “It takes one person to ruin a fantastic thing that we do for fun,” Arnold said. So far, Dana Brown has not been charged with any crimes. Brown stands by her decision to cancel the pageant and keep the entry fees. Anyone that wants to file a claim against pageant fraud is asked to report to the Tennessee Department of Commerce.
