Donations blocked by bank after teen’s car crash

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- When a Central Ohio teenager was badly hurt in a car crash, his mom knew they had to fight hard for his recovery. She never thought she would have to fight with her bank. When she and her son’s football coach couldn’t get answers, they called Better Call 4. Gavin Huff is the quarterback for Riverview High School in Coshocton County, a wrestler and a kid that everyone calls “ducky.” In October, his life changed in an instant when he was in a car accident. His team and the community rallied around him but his family was left to fight a second battle after access to community donations was cut off. “Gavin was the life of the group. He was the one. It didn't matter what the score was. Gavin was never letting up early,” Riverview High School Head Football Coach Ryler McKee said.  On October 11, Gavin was in a life-threatening car accident. “He had a brain bleed. His spleen was lacerated, broken pelvis, all the stuff. And he had a broken neck,” Gavin’s mother Tara Jacobs said. “It was very frightening.” Gavin was taken by helicopter to Columbus. His mother knew it was a long road to recovery. Gavin’s football team and the community stepped up. “The boys came up with the idea of a pancake breakfast. And so I have great parents that were willing to help. And people from the community donated supplies,” McKee said.  Donations, gift cards and lots of cards came pouring in. They made shirts, sold pancakes and raised $12,000. Jacobs deposited the check but could not access the money.  “I called Chase and said, ‘I don't know why my card was declined.’ And they said it was because of a suspicious check,” Jacobs said.  “The check cleared our account perfectly fine. And so to this day, you can look at it and you can see where $12,000 check is gone,” McKee said.  Jacobs was locked out of her account: no access to the donations or any of her money, while trying to pay her son’s mounting hospital bills. “I was just sitting there bawling because I'm like, I have no money. I can't do nothing. I said, I can't even get on there to pay my bills,” Jacobs said.  McKee and Jacobs each called Chase, tried to go through the local branch, and initiated a formal dispute but could not get answers. “I kept calling and calling and calling like daily, trying to just at least see what the issue was,” Jacobs said.  They were told Chase was trying to verify the check with a telephone number, but it was one that did not belong to anyone on the account. “It clicked that it was my old number and I asked them how, how did you get that number? And they said they did a record search and that's what showed up for my name,” McKee said.  It was a number he hadn’t had since 2020.  “The frustrating thing was Tara and I were both there at one point and we confirmed like I wrote the check, I gave it to Tara and Tara brought it in here and we were both sitting across from the guy and they were not willing to help us at all,” McKee said.  The community that rallied around them said they'd Better Call 4. “They had said to contact you guys, that you’ll make it happen,” Chase said.  We reached out to Chase Bank and received a statement reading: “To protect customers against rising check fraud, we regularly review checks and deposits for inconsistencies to ensure they’re valid.” We continued to follow up and two weeks later, Jacobs received the $12,000. Chase Bank told us: “After further review, the funds have been returned and we apologize to Ms. Jacobs for the delay.” “I'm looking forward to the stress of this going away because it's been wearing on all of us. And it's not just me, it's the family as well,” McKee said.  Gavin has a long road to recovery, with more surgeries ahead.  His family says they are so thankful for the support they have received, which has come from all over Ohio and even as far away as Europe. Gavin’s teammates are still collecting donations for him, asking that people send them labeled with #duckystrong.