When homeless looking man Frank Nordby realized that if what he believed was true, then an incredible injustice had taken place. He felt if a billion dollars could create this horrible injustice maybe it's possible to tip the scales of justice with a little incentive for anyone who would be willing to investigate his story and prove him wrong. So with the David vs Goliath state of mind,  Frank began offering a $100,000 dollar reward in his quest for the truth. All anyone had to do was disprove with evidence the following claim by our father Charles Nordby:

                                                             "I saved Tom Raley's company from going bankrupt"

A simple claim with a very hard answer. Because if he did save the Raley's company, then Charles Nordby is a hometown hero who has been treated like a villian. When you consider all of the people, families, companies, communities and on and on that have benefited from Raley's since 1973, he has made a tremendous contribution without any acknowlegement, publically or financially. Like I mentioned before in a previous segment, which is an incredible fact, and that is Tom Raley didn't even know him. And why didn't Tom Raley know Charles Nordby?

This is what I know: There are two people in Sacramento who should have the ability to produce the evidence necessary to disprove Charles Nordby and silence this story, but they can't. Those two people are Jim and Joyce Raley Teel. They have access to all the financial records of Tom Raley(unless they have been shredded already). All they have to prove is Tom's financial condition in 1973. If Tom Raley had plenty of money in 1973, then Charles Nordby didn't need to save his company and no turnaround would have been necessary. But even Raley's own history book states that 1973 was the year of the "turnaround". That was the same year that Nordby came to Raley's. Mere coincident? Not likely!

Recently I received a nice email from Casey Kirk at the SacPress, and I was graciously warned that if the story about my father and Raley’s went into the “dangerous territory of libel," it would be pulled. And it should be if it is libelous. Then she wrote this "We have consulted two journalism professors at CSUS who specialize in media law and have been told that so far the stories seem safe, but they do have the potential to go that route."

I appreciate The Sacramento Press' precautions and we are well aware of the dangers of libel, but since our family has been telling this never changing story for over 18 years now, we are very careful to speak and write only what we know to be true or our expressed opinions.

After I read their email and I became aware of their concern, I remembered the April 2nd, 1991 letter Charles Collings (Raley's president) wrote to my brother Frank stating the following: 

"I am telling you that the story you are trying to spread about Raley's is inaccurate and could be damaging.  Now that you know, if you choose to continue to spread falsehoods, I suggest that you get an attorney, you will need one." 

Wow, what a powerhouse threat from the man and the company of Sacramento's big local success story.....Raley's. That threat was made over 18 years ago. Since then we have spent thousands of hours and dollars investigating Tom Raley, Raley’s, Chuck Collings, the Teel’s and others.

We searched through archived newspapers, public records of Raley’s finances which also include divorce proceedings, tax delinquency files, stock issuances, assessor’s filings, as well as police and criminal records just for the fun of it. We knew if for some reason our investigation was not complete or accurate, we would never be able to prove our father’s story and we would also run the risk of having to face Raley’s in a court of law where we would have no chance against this uncircumcised giant.

One of the greatest sources of evidence that we found was their own history book of Tom Raley’s success story. It is called "Raley's, A Family Store". That book was freely given to all of Raley’s employees in 1990 of which I was one. I don’t think they thought that an employee of over ten years would read this book and begin questioning their so-called actual and factual account of their success story.

It was within their own pages of their own book that we discovered events, timelines, quotes and even important omissions that gave us what we needed to prove our father’s story. All of the information from other investigated documents were like little pieces of the big puzzle, and like shavings of chocolate sprinkled on the icing of a cake. Yes, I enjoy chocolate.

In the 1980’s, the Proctor and Gamble company and its logo with the man, the stars and the moon was subjected to many rumors that the company was somehow related to Satanic worship. Since the rumors were untrue and damaging to the company’s clean image(no pun intended, okay there was), the P&G company sought after every individual as well as groups who were creating and spreading the negative publicity and ferociously pursued them in the court of law to stop the libelous and damaging accusations against them.  

I say all that to say this. In the last 18 years of our family promoting the true Tom Raley success story that is really Charles Nordby‘s success story, there has never been any opposition from Raley’s or Jim and Joyce Raley Teel, the two people who could have protected Tom Raley's name, reputation and legacy if it were possible. If they had any evidence to disprove Charles Nordby's claims, they could have claimed the $100,000 reward and given it to a charity of their choice.

Eighteen years later my brother Frank continues to speak the truth.  His animated website, with all of its bells and whistles reminds me of Jim Cramers show "Mad Money", except Franks website is all about fraud money and should have been voted "Best of Sacramento" for a fun, zany, educational and news worthy website. Frank will never get a "Sacramento's Best" for his website because Mike O'brien from the Sacramento Magazine doesn't want to believe that this is a true story. A woman sent him an email and asked him about the Charles Nordby story. Here is what Mike wrote to her in reply:

                "We have gotten rambling notes from the person you reference for years, as have many media.                      We considered his diatribes years ago and found the specific charges meaningless."

Mike O'brien should think before he speaks or writes emails. Charles Nordby died over 13 years ago. How could have Mike got any "rambling" notes from Charles Nordby. Maybe Mike is passing notes with the dead. Is this a little paranormal activity going on here? Maybe Mike should get one of his magazines "Sacramento's Best" for "Foot in Mouth".

Anyways, Franks website has been online since 2003 and has nearly 1/2 million page views and he is still waiting for Chuck Collings, Jim and Joyce Teel and Raley's to settle this matter.  In fact, Frank is still waiting for Collings to follow through with Raley's threat of legal action made towards him on April 2, 1991 when Collings wrote he would need an attorney if he was to continue spreading falsehoods.

I am glad that the SacPress editorial staff is reading the articles and questioning the credibility of its writers, just in case the stories appear to be too incredible. Especially an unheard of story like this one that involves the wealthiest people in Sacramento and the company that they own. 

The $100,000 reward that is being offered has been available for almost five years now and was initially offered to journalist and the news media as a lure to find someone who would be willing to grab this story by the balls and investigate it. We wanted an outsider to either come to the same conclusion that we have or be able to gather evidence that would prove otherwise. We just wanted the truth. Not one reporter ever approached us about trying to disprove the story. Maybe they were told or knew it was a true story that could not be disputed. Or, maybe they were told not to by their superiors where they worked. Watch the YouTube journalist invite listed at the bottom of the page.

Raley’s attorney’s perverted and corrupted justice in this matter. They prevented our father from getting his day in court which would have proven his story and his claims that every penny of profit that Raley’s has made since he came on board with them in 1973 was money made from his program. He made them billionaires and they used ill-gotten gains to make sure he didn’t get his day in court.

Charles Nordby died in the midst of dragging them into the courts. It is our opinion his death could be attributed partially to the stress he endured while fighting corrupted legal paperwork from attorneys Peter Glick and Robert Strauch. And the only person who ever faced him in court was a very red faced woman named Kimberly Peterson acting on behalf of Peter Glick. We are still trying to investigate if she was even an attorney at the time of her courtroom appearance or just an office girl.

One of the most incredible facts about this whole story is this: Here we are 18 years after we first discovered many careless errors in the Raley’s history book that simply did not make any sense, and they are still holding on to their facade. Everyone who hears this story says to us “why don’t they (Raley’s) just settle with your family?” One possible reason is, they may think they will have to admit they commited a crime against our father. Or maybe they think because they are billionaires, they don't have to answer to anyone.

Most people who get got stealing normally end up paying restitution to the victim for their crime. Wealthy people generally don’t care about doing the right thing unless they are caught and forced by the law to do so.  For them, stealing from Charles Nordby and his family, then taking credit for his legacy is all part of their American dream which is not a dream at all.

I feel for all the Raley/Teel family members who have had to live with this story hanging over their heads. Nobody but Jim and Joyce Teel, Chuck Collings and Frank McMinn knew  anything about it. The rest of the family had no idea what our father was doing for grandpa Tom, but neither did Tom. So when this story began breaking in 1991 it must have been a horrible horrible shock to the Raley family, but especially to the three men listed above because they were the ones personally involved in what Charles Nordby was doing.

I believe as long as there is life, it is never too late to do the right thing. I don't know why Jim and Joyce don't want to resolve this for their children and grandchildrens sake?

Coming up in future segments:  Read the crucial part played by the Sacramento Bee,  my meetings with Mike Teel and then Jim Teel that almost erupted into a brawl. Also, the legal shenanigans of Raley's attorneys at Downey, Brand Seymour and Rowher….. and how Judge Joe Gray in our opinion is either a very stupid judge, jaded or perhaps even paid off. 

Sources:     Photo of 1st Store Courtesy of the El Dorado County Museum         www.hungry4justice.com          www.raleysexposed.com       Raley's: A Family Store         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrsG_kNeGXg