According to federal prosecutors as reported by Voice of San Diego, Martin Rebollo and Noly Ilarde both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud after operating a fake nonprofit organization that collected millions of dollars from concession sales at Petco Park and other venues. Rebollo also pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns and Social Security fraud.
The case centers on a sham charity called “Chula Vista Fast Pitch,” which prosecutors say never actually existed. Under a program used at many large stadiums across the country, nonprofits are allowed to staff concession stands at sporting events and concerts in exchange for receiving a percentage of the sales generated at those stands. The money is supposed to go back into charitable programs. Instead, investigators say Rebollo and Ilarde used the name of a defunct youth softball league to collect the money themselves.
Between 2016 and 2023, concessionaire Delaware North paid roughly $3.5 million to the operation for staffing concession stands at Petco Park. Prosecutors say the pair recruited workers and paid them roughly $50 per game under the table while splitting the remaining proceeds. In their plea agreements, the two men admitted that the scheme brought in approximately $3.75 million.
Federal prosecutors confirmed that the criminal investigation began only after Voice of San Diego published a detailed investigation exposing the suspicious charity.
“It takes a lot of time to get the necessary financial records and track them down,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Hill said after the pleas were announced. “The wheels of justice can be slow, but they were successful in this case.”
The guilty pleas represent a rare example of local investigative journalism directly triggering a federal criminal prosecution.
Voice of San Diego reporter Will Huntsberry first revealed in August 2023 that “Chula Vista Fast Pitch” was operating concession stands inside Petco Park despite the fact that the nonprofit had ceased operations nearly a decade earlier.
The original youth softball league, called Chula Vista Fastpitch, shut down in 2014. Yet the name continued appearing in concession staffing rosters at the stadium for years afterward. At the time of the investigation, the fake charity had become the single largest nonprofit operator working concession stands inside the stadium.
Documents obtained by Voice showed the organization was staffing as many as a dozen concession stands during games and events. Because charities receive roughly nine to twelve percent of concession proceeds, the arrangement generated hundreds of thousands of dollars per season.
In one two-month stretch of the 2023 baseball season alone, the operation recorded $3.7 million in concession sales. Ten percent of that would translate to roughly $370,000 flowing to the supposed charity. Yet the nonprofit itself appeared to exist only on paper.
Searches of federal nonprofit records, business filings, and local permit databases revealed no active charity under the name. Even the founders of the original softball league were shocked to learn the name was still being used.
“It seems so dumb that no one at Petco Park would notice,” former league founder Jackson Wyatt told Voice of San Diego when the story first broke. “Every softball team and all the leagues know each other.”
The structure of the concession program helps explain how the operation was able to run for so long. Petco Park is owned by the City of San Diego but operated by the San Diego Padres. The team contracts food service operations to Delaware North, which manages concession staffing and the nonprofit volunteer program.
Under that system, charities are required to submit documentation verifying their nonprofit status. Voice of San Diego reported that Delaware North periodically requested paperwork confirming the charity’s legitimacy. How the nonexistent organization was able to continue operating for years without detection remains one of the lingering questions raised by the case.
Following Voice’s investigation in 2023, both Petco Park and Snapdragon Stadium removed the organization from their concession programs. Snapdragon had paid roughly $260,000 to the group between 2022 and 2023.
Federal investigators later confirmed many of the details originally reported by Voice. According to plea agreements, Rebollo personally received more than $1.5 million from the operation. Ilarde admitted receiving more than $550,000.
Rebollo also admitted that he continued collecting Social Security disability payments while earning income through the scheme. He has agreed to repay approximately $540,000 to the Internal Revenue Service. Ilarde was not charged with tax fraud and therefore did not agree to any repayment to the IRS. Ilarde is scheduled to be sentenced in late May, while Rebollo will be sentenced in June.
The case is a reminder of how significant sums of money flow through stadium charity programs that many fans barely notice while ordering food or drinks during games. It is also a reminder of the role local watchdog journalism can play in uncovering wrongdoing that might otherwise remain hidden. Without Voice of San Diego’s investigation, prosecutors acknowledged the scheme might never have come to light.
For nearly a decade, a charity that didn’t exist was quietly collecting a share of concession sales from one of the busiest stadiums in Major League Baseball. Only after reporters began asking questions did the entire operation unravel.
Petco Park is located at 100 Park Boulevard in downtown San Diego. The guilty pleas were entered in federal court in March 2026, with sentencing hearings scheduled later this spring.
Originally published on March 11, 2026.