Gerardo Mosquera

Soccer Payroll = An Empty Net.

Life for employees of the Portland Rain—a first-year team in the Women's Premier Soccer League—hasn't been lucrative.

This week's Rogue, former team owner Gerardo Mosquera, promised his coaches and managers between $16 and $20 per hour. But several employees now say even those payments have dried up—with Mosquera nowhere to be found.

The state Bureau of Labor and Industries has been unable to find Mosquera to investigate a $2,800 wage claim by Ronaldo Brandoa, a former part-time employee hired by Mosquera in February to organize and coach a team in Southern Oregon that would essentially develop players for the Rain. General manager Stacy Troiano also is trying to recover more than $5,000 in unpaid wages after she says Mosquera told her he was out of money.

After Brandoa spent three months marketing and held two tryouts, Mosquera notified Brandoa via email April 12 that there was no funding to continue.

Rain player Lauren Miller, who like her teammates is unpaid on the amateur squad, was told by interim coach Stan Rodrigues that Mosquera had to give up ownership of the team because of financial trouble. Rodrigues says Mosquera hasn't attended a Rain game since a May 31 match in Tigard.

Rodrigues stepped in after that May 31 game to keep the Rain going through the rest of the season, which ended July 19, despite the lack of money for paychecks. Rodrigues, who says the Rain will figure out a way to return next year, declined to comment on whether he also will file a wage claim.

"There is a lot of speculation and no real facts about where [Mosquera] is," Rodrigues says. "I haven't had contact with him since [May 31], but there are about 100,000 questions I'd like to ask him."

WWeek 2015

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