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NewsChannel 3 takes action after man says Beach company stiffed him

Posted at 12:01 AM, Sep 13, 2013
and last updated 2013-09-13 00:01:36-04

Virginia Beach, Va. - Frank Whitehurst drives to the bank every day hoping to cash his paycheck, but he comes up empty each time. The bank says his former employer's account does not have any money in it.

"This will be the eighth time I've gone in at least once or twice a day," Whitehurst said.

Whitehurst worked as a painter for All Nations Floors on Virginia Beach Boulevard in Virginia Beach. The $250 check he was given last Tuesday is just a piece of paper that's turned into a broken promise.

"Money that I can't get because there's nothing there from what I'm being told," Whitehurst said.

He's gone to the store to complain about the problem.

"They don't exactly tell me there's no money," Whitehurst said. "They just said he don't have the funds."

Whitehurst called NewsChannel 3, hoping we would take action for him.
So NewsChannel 3 went to All Nations Floors and confronted his former boss, Yossi Gatlin.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Everybody gets paid," Gatlin said.

Our interview with Gatlin ended cordially, and he said he would right the wrong. Then he asked to talk to NewsChannel 3 inside his store, and off camera.

There he said a major customer had multiple checks bounce, and that's why Whitehurst wasn't getting paid. He said Whitehurst shouldn't have any further problems.

Just after 4:30 p.m., he told us to bring Whitehurst to his store within a half hour and the 47-year-old would get paid.

Whitehurst waited in the parking lot for his ex-boss to come and pay him, but by 5:10 p.m. he couldn't wait any longer. He had to be at his son's football game.

A minute later, the operations major arrived with cash to pay Whitehurst, but he was already gone by that time. The company is now promising they'll pay Whitehurst as soon as he stops by again.