HARDEEVILLE, S.C. (WSAV) - The Jasper County Sheriff's Office says a man preyed on kids' football dreams to make money. Now, he is facing criminal charges, accused of running a scam involving promises of scholarships and success. Nathaniel Drayton is charged with six counts of obtaining a signature and property by false pretenses and two counts of defrauding an innkeeper. Jasper County investigators say Drayton committed these crimes as the head coach of the Hardeeville Vikings, a football program that described itself on social media as a "post grad football program. We get high school seniors college offers." Players say he promised them not just a chance to play, but meals, a place to live and more. That all came if they paid to come to Hardeeville and be on the team. "He promised them a football camp. He promised them a place to stay. He promised a meal prep," explained Jasper County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Jeff Crosby. "He promised them games to showcase their talents. None of that come to light." Kids and families gave between $1,200 and $4,400 for this opportunity. The Vikings had uniforms and held practices, but never played a real game. Drayton couldn't afford to even keep the players in a local hotel. ‘You don’t have a legal right to be here’: Family scammed in Richmond Hill rental home "I want to say they were staying in an apartment complex to start with. They got put out of there," said Crosby. "Then they went to a motel in Hardeeville, and they got put out of the motel. And then he moved them into another motel. And they were evicted from that motel. Both of them are alone due to nonpayment of one motel loan. He owes them $4,000 for the stay that was there." Crosby says investigators talked to six different sets of players and families not just from our area, but some from as far away as Michigan and Florida. That's how they got to the specific charges related to these kids, who range from ages 17 to 22. "All of the kids say that they didn't get any meals. They didn't get any football games. At one point, they were practicing in the grass parking lot of a nightclub down here south of Ridgeland," Crosby said. "So it was a complete scam." That parking lot, Crosby said, is where a murder happened a few years ago. Drayton was fundraising to allegedly help the Vikings, but investigators say they haven't found out how much money, if any, he raised. "I know he showed up at one of the churches and then the report states that he was smoking marijuana when he showed up the church to get them to use their field," said Crosby. "I don't know if that's true, but that's in the report." Crosby said the worst part isn't even the money Drayton took, but the fact this program took some of these players' futures. "So some of these kids, they had they had offers to play college ball. They are now ineligible to do that," he said. "They have lost their eligibility to play college ball because of this scam." Crosby expects this to be just the beginning of the legal trouble for Drayton. "There's still a long drawn-out investigation," he added. "Like I said, there's probably victims all over the country that were there contacting him." If you have any information about this investigation, you can call Jasper County Sheriff's Office investigators. If you have any questions about a team or situation like this, Crosby said take your time before handing over any money. "Do your homework, you know, check them out," he advised, "check around, see what you can find out. Search the internet, you know, so you don't want to get caught up in the scam."