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A solemn moment for DBR and the Melee Community

The King

Smash Ace
Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Messages
681
Hello, everyone. First of all, I want to thank every single person who helped volunteer their time & energy to help mold Genesis-II into the wildly successful event that it was, as well as thank each and every person who took a few days out of their lives to attend and support our tournament; we hosted this tournament for each & every individual one of you, and we absolutely could not have done it without you guys. There were bumps in the road to running this tournament, but we overcame pretty much each & every obstacle.

However... some obstacles were harder to overcome than others, and after some extremely difficult and heartbreaking discussion, this is one issue that we felt absolutely had to be shared with the rest of the community. I know that on the surface it "might" look like a personal issue that should've stayed between our crew, but we felt it was our responsibility to bring this out into the open.



To cut to the chase: on the Sunday of Genesis-II, our prize pool, our crew's reputation within the community, and perhaps even our financial future were nearly destroyed by none other than Zelgadis (Trebor Scherer).


As far as I am aware since the crime he committed took place, he has contacted several people and spun a terrific web of lies & misdirection to cover up this act. As responsible members of the community, as difficult as this is, we felt it necessary to state the truth:


As anyone involved with Genesis knows, we were generously provided $6,000 in sponsorship prize money from VTS and his company Sabergaming. On Sunday morning, while in a rush to arrive at the venue, one of our TO's accidentally left the envelop containing the prize money sitting on the mattress in our hotel suite after removing it from our room's safe. The hotel room was locked, with only direct members of DBR still within the hotel room.

After nearly everyone except for Bob$ and his girlfriend had exited the room later that morning, Zelgadis swung by with a friend of his, Clayton, to search for a jacket he left behind the night prior. It was then, in between the time that bob$'s girlfriend let Zelgadis enter the room and the time that she stepped into the bathroom, that Zelgadis concocted the brilliant plan of swiping the envelop containing $6,000 from the bed, and exited the room. After informing his friend Clayton of what he had just stolen from his best friends & crew mates, they both returned to Clayton's home in his truck, removed $200 to keep on their persons while stashing the remaining $5800 in their home, then returned to the venue as if nothing had happened.

...

Upon realizing that the envelop had been left behind, then realizing it was missing after we tore the hotel room apart, we quickly pieced together that Zelgadis was most likely the prime suspect (however ridiculous that seemed to us at the time.) After giving him the benefit of the doubt (he picked it up by accident, he tried bringing it to us but forgot it somewhere on the way to the tournament, etc) we explained to him that we believed he had it.

Our bluntness was met with the most sincere, straight-faced web of absolute bull**** lies that I have EVER witnessed in my entire life. Receiving everything from "I would never do that, I'm part of this crew just the same as you guys" to "I swear on my dead mother's life I did not take that envelop", he lied directly to our faces.

Long story short, we brought everyone involved including Clayton and Zelgadis back to the hotel, where after playing detectives by piecing together the time frame of the morning and cross-referencing cell phone texts, all the while being lied to for TWO SOLID HOURS about how they were innocent, we felt it time to contact the authorities.

Once the police arrived, another 90 minutes of lies and deceit was continued by the both of them while the police took our statements and cross-checked stories...


Finally, upon being confronted with the fact that they may very well face felony charges and prison time for this theft, and that we did not wish to press charges but only wanted to recover the money, Zelgadis admitted in front of the officers and Germ that he did indeed steal the cash. After the both of them were escorted to Clayton's home and brought back to our room, the envelop of prize money was delivered to us.



...You cannot believe just how hard this broke us down. After realizing that a friend we've known for nearly a decade, one of our own crew members, would so recklessly steal from us and nearly ruin us (reputation and financially), after being so directly lied to and misdirected for hours on end, we felt it NECESSARY to inform everyone reading this of the type of person Zelgadis truly is. Additionally, this isn’t what you’d call the first blemish on his record. I’m not going to embellish, but let’s just say that the six grand would *maybe* pay off all the debt that he’s stonewalled on to other people.


To those that know Zelgadis (Trebor), either personally or fleetingly, you may want to seriously consider the position you are in concerning a relationship with him. After being so misled, lied to, and sworn to up & down about this event, I can say with a certainty that we will never be able to believe a word that comes out of his mouth, nor trust him with anything on any kind of scale.

Do with this as you will, Melee Community.

-King Out
 

The GERM

Smash Ace
Joined
Dec 7, 2003
Messages
872
Location
Concord CA
This whole episode was especially hard on myself more so than anyone else. Trebor and myself have been friends since sophomore year of high school, he introduced me to smash bros. and was my best friend for a long time. Without Zelgadis,Genesis, GERM the Link player, DBR, The King, Bob$, and tons of others who he influenced may never have existed in the smash community.


I had several one on one talks with Trebor before the actual confession. I figured that if anyone can get him to admit he took the money, it would be me since I am the closest to him and have known him the longest. Only I knew the true extent of how hard a time Trebor was having currently in his life financially and emotionally; Mixing in drugs and a drug dealer friend did not help either. We all knew from the very beginning that he stole the money. I even told him as I was on the verge of tears, that if he had the money, I could make it look as if I had found it and nobody would ever know. That is when he looked at my tear filled eyes and swore on his deceased mother that he did not take the money.


I'm not writing this to reiterate what has been said already in King's post. What King posted, and what is posted above is the 100% truth and there is no grey area. I am writing this to further emphasize the extent of how badly our trust betrayed, and how Zelgadis single handedly almost destroyed everything we had worked for and have ever done for this community over the past 10 years.


Trebor, if you're reading this, just know that you really tore me apart emotionally this weekend. I have met people who have it 10 times worse than you do, who have hit the very rock bottom, and still manage to keep their heads up high and would never do anything even close to what you pulled this weekend to your friends and crew mates. Thank you for introducing me to this game, and I hope you get help, but I don't want anything to do with you or anyone who is affiliated with you ever again. Goodbye.


-GERM
 

0Room

Smash Lord
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
1,953
Location
Boone, NC
Wow, what do you even say about this? :/
I wasn't there, but I just wanted to apologize to you guys in particular. It's not an easy thing you're doing and I appreciate the knowledge and the responsibility you guys went through putting this out there.
I am truly sorry about this, and I can tell that he was very close to you, and that this really hurt you guys.

If I can say anything, just remember that the smash community as a whole is here for you if you need anything, and that we really appreciate you coming out and letting us know that this occurred.
 

Teczer0

Research Assistant
Premium
BRoomer
Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
16,862
Location
Convex Cone, Positive Orthant
My heart goes out to the guys in DBR. That is truly something I don't think I would ever be able to deal with emotionally.

I'm sorry for what happened to you guys.
 

Lovage

Smash Hero
Joined
Apr 15, 2007
Messages
6,746
Location
STANKONIA CA
wow

i would never have expected dbr of all crews to go through a backstabbing like this. you guys were always the tighest-knit, most respected and one of the oldest crews for this game. definitely would never see this coming.
 

Battlecow

Play to Win
Joined
May 19, 2009
Messages
8,746
Location
Chicago
What a world-class **********. Narrow miss on a second Pound 5 incident.

Also, not that it's your guys' fault or anything, but you might want to be more careful with envelopes containing $6,000 in the future.
 

darkatma

Smash Hero
Joined
Dec 10, 2005
Messages
5,747
Location
St Louis, Missouri/Fremont, CA
To everyone else:
This doesn't reflect on the rest of DBR at all, or at least shouldn't. Everyone busted their ***** off helping run the tourney, shuttling people to the hotel, and doing everything that needed to be done to have an amazing tourney. Germ even reimbursed the smasher who got robbed.
 

Germs Lady

Smash Cadet
Joined
May 1, 2006
Messages
46
Location
Cali
This was the most painful moment for the DBR crew. We all sat in the room for four hours and it was brutal. Even I had a moment with Trebor and he said everything under the sun to convince me it wasn't him. He's been a friend for nearly seven years to me and was my ex-roommate. Watching this downward spiral he's head down and the torn apart DBR crew's reaction when Trebor finally admitted it was nothing short of one of the saddest moments I have ever witnessed. We (well almost all of us) cried and hugged each other for the longest time. We never thought he would do this to us. I'm sorry for him and for us. But I'm glad we were able to retreive the money and get on with the tournament after missing four hours of a day we had been planning for a year. With that said - be careful with your association with him as he did this to the closest friends in his life. Sad moment for the Smash community.
~Zohreh aka GERMs LaDY
 

Strong Badam

Super Elite
Administrator
Premium
BRoomer
Joined
Feb 27, 2008
Messages
26,545
Dan, German, I like Teczero don't think I could have worked through such a situation like that... this is terrible news. I'm glad your reputation and financial future is still secure, but it's just awful that such a well-known member of DBR and the community would do such a thing to fix his own problems...

You both and the rest of DBR hosted an amazing tourney and you guys are all great people. I wouldn't have spent my weekend anywhere else. Thank you.
 

Walt

Smash Ace
Joined
Mar 31, 2007
Messages
894
Location
Concord, CA
In the last year I've become good friends with Trebor, but since being informed of this on that now Soured-Sunday I have decided to no longer associate with him. My heart goes out to DBR, I could see pain it had caused you guys on that last day and I hope somehow soon this betrayal is cleared from your mind.

My Best, Kelan.
 

Life

Smash Hero
Joined
Jul 19, 2010
Messages
5,264
Location
Grieving No Longer
This fellow needs (professional?) help by the sound of things. Doesn't justify his actions, but srsly.

I'm not involved in this in any way, but I can't help but send sympathy to those who are.
 

Tee ay eye

Smash Hero
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
Messages
5,635
Location
AZ
If anyone wants to let this incident damage their trust of DBR, stop and read this: i was told by someone that THEY TOOK MONEY OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKETS to pay the winners their bonuses while they were trying to retrieve the money from Zelgadis.

Thanks for hosting a great tournament, guys. On top of all the hell you had to deal with with the event itself, you had to deal with this BS and even put your own money on the line to make sure the winners got what they deserved.
 

Germs Lady

Smash Cadet
Joined
May 1, 2006
Messages
46
Location
Cali
if anyone wants to let this incident damage their trust of DBR, stop and read this: i was told by someone that THEY TOOK MONEY OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKETS to pay the winners their bonuses while they were trying to retrieve the money from Zelgadis.
Yes - we were going to have to do everything out of pocket so as to not tarnish the DBR reputation and screw anyone over. We would have been shorted and gained absolutely nothing as we would never let an incident like this destroy the tournament. We were doing calculations throughout the four hours, in the event that Trebor wouldn't have confessed.

However, with all the proof (text messages and different stories by both Trebor and Clayton, a drug dealer no less) and the police involvement, we were relieved in a way that NO ONE could comprehend. When the police came back with the money, it was a liberating moment. Trebor actually tried to talk to us after, and we told the police to make him leave. He was told he'd be arrested for trespassing, and even THEN he went back to the tournament, in which he was told to leave by myself, GERM and SideFX. The nerve....
 

eschemat

Smash Journeyman
Joined
Aug 10, 2010
Messages
241
Well... it seems as if the DBR was shined bling. /10 puns

Seriously though, that's depressing.... Never met Zelgadis, but Shined Blind really changed Melee. DBR really changed Melee. Sad day for the Smash community, but at least this didn't end up going into a Plank situation, which I thought it was going to be.

Thanks DBR for G2 though and the awesome matches provided on livestream.
 

t3h Icy

Smash Master
Joined
Jun 12, 2009
Messages
4,917
It's awesome you guys had a backup plan and were willing to pay with your own money. If we had another Pound 5 incident with Genesis 2, I think that could kill a good chunk of large-scale internationals. Good **** on that DBR!

Zelgadis's Fox is slow.
 

ETWIST51294

Smash Hero
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
8,694
Location
Captain Falcon
I commend you guys for not hitting him in his god damn mouth. I couldn't handle that ****. I hope you guys get over this smoothly...
 

SSBMLahti

Smash Lord
Joined
Jun 5, 2010
Messages
1,252
I'm pissed off that this happened, not because $6000 was stolen, but because it was someone's close friend that lied and almost ****ed the over.

I can't imagine what I would do if a friend of my did something even remotely close to this, it's just not right. You think you know someone better then they know themselves, and after all this time they can still surprise you by doing some as disrespectful as this.

DBR didn't have to inform us, but they did. Thank you for that and I hope you guys stay strong.
 

Brookman

Smash Hero
Joined
Oct 20, 2005
Messages
6,202
Location
pikachu
All I can do is say how sorry I am. Your old combo vids (shined blind especially) definitely were a major influence on my desire to enter this community. Trust is definitely a fragile thing and I hate to see it shattered in such a heartless way.
 

Minato

穏やかじゃない
Joined
Sep 8, 2007
Messages
10,513
Location
Corona, CA
Sorry to hear that such a thing happened with a close friend. Glad that everything was solved and you didn't have to dig the money out of your own pockets.
 

Dr Peepee

Thanks for Everything <3
Moderator
BRoomer
Joined
Sep 29, 2007
Messages
27,766
Location
Raleigh, North Carolina
Wow......

I'm so sorry this happened to you, DBR. Incredible respect for holding it together during the tournament and handling the situation so well despite how difficult it must have been for you.
 

Dobs1007

Smash Ace
Joined
Jan 12, 2008
Messages
894
Location
West Chester, PA
Wow so much respect to the guys in DBR(Germ, King) such a terrible situation to be back-stabbed like that. Mad respect for everything u have done for the community and the amazing job u guys did at Genesis 2.

I know it must have been as difficult to share as it was to go through the whole ordeal. Once again nothing but respect and heart goes out to u guys...
 

Zantetsu

Smash Master
Joined
Sep 1, 2006
Messages
4,413
Location
Springfield, MO
Didn't go to Genesis, but damn. Props to DBR, minus Zelgadis, for being very professional about the situation and not stopping until the money was recovered. I'm sure many TO's would have given up after 4 hours. You guys did a great job and I hope this doesn't prevent you from hosting tournaments in the future. I'd really like to see Genesis 3 because I would be there, no doubt in my mind. I'm sorry that you had to deal with this bull****.
 

Super

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Aug 12, 2010
Messages
114
So that's the Zelgadis special.. :troll:

Seriously you guys handled a terrible situation quite well and did an excellent job for G2. So sorry this happened...
 

choknater

Smash Obsessed
Joined
Dec 25, 2002
Messages
27,296
Location
Modesto, CA
NNID
choknater
very interesting, had no idea that was going on. by the time the last few matches happened, you all seemed in good spirits to be watching the epicness in the front rows. i hope that those matches were at least a good reminder of the amazingness of the event you all put on.
 

Flayl

Smash Hero
Joined
May 15, 2006
Messages
5,520
Location
Portugal
I'm sorry to hear this and I hope it never happens to me.

Something I hope you guys discuss among yourselves is who should be in charge of the prize money. Accidentally leaving 6k on a bed, after taking it out from a safe I understand, is a very serious lapse and could be misconstrued as something beyond a memory fault.

I'm glad DBR perseveres.
 

XkaruX

Smash Apprentice
Joined
Feb 9, 2009
Messages
172
Location
Perth, Australia.
Wow this is truly unbelievable. I'm sorry this happened to you, guys.
I'm glad you were able to keep the tournament running smoothly.

Thanks DBR, for all you have done for this community.
 

KishPrime

King of the Ship of Fools
BRoomer
Joined
Jun 22, 2003
Messages
7,739
Location
Indiana
Good job, guys.

No one ever imagines they'll have to deal with betrayal, but you guys handled it as well as you can, and saved the tournament and entire Smash community from a perhaps unrecoverable black eye to boot.

I can vouch that it's also terribly unfun to have to handle five figures worth of money. All you can think about is what can go wrong.
 

TeeVee

Smash Lord
Joined
Feb 22, 2008
Messages
1,570
i half never heard any thing lik this b4 ...i cant believe a brawler would do ths to his own clan ...wow
 

toasty

Smash Hero
Joined
Nov 3, 2006
Messages
6,110
Location
Norfolk/Virginia Beach, VA - IT'S SOVA, BABY! &lt;
Wow......

I'm so sorry this happened to you, DBR. Incredible respect for holding it together during the tournament and handling the situation so well despite how difficult it must have been for you.
This.

Respect.

And mad respect for what TAI said about paying out of pocket [and for that smasher who got robbed].

All I can offer is a gesture of support...and I wish you luck with Genesis 3 =D

I'm glad all your hard work didn't go to waste and that the event was otherwise successful
 

commonyoshi

Smash Hero
Joined
Jan 16, 2006
Messages
6,215
Location
dainty perfect
What the hell? A big thanks to DBR for organizing an amazing tournament and keeping their cool during this bs. And props to you guys for sharing such a heartbreaking event with the community.

You guys are amazing, and I wish I wouldn't have cheaped out and bought more snacks to support you guys.
 
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