Interesting
I’ve donated to them in the past, starting with the 2008 Sugarcreek Mother’s Day pull. I’ve always found Lisa to be very up front, posting receipts, etc. I live a few states away so I never had the chance to visit personally, but felt FPF was one of the good ones. Will be interested to see what happens.
Couldn’t she have just paid herself a wage out of the rescue’s funds? Or did she do that and this was allegedly above and beyond that? I have done lots of volunteer hours for horse rescues and they would often take cash out of the donation jar to buy us lunch and such when were are at the expos.
Lisa posted the link above on the FPF Facebook page. If you check out some of the comments someone mentioned that there are 17 charges being brought against Lisa. Don’t know the accuracy because I didn’t go to the link that has more detail. Te poster said it can be found all over online if you search.
This is the full court document of all 17 charges. Number 68 under count 13 Lisa admits to some of her spending sprees. Hard to make a plea you were picking something up for the horses at Victoria’s Secret, LOL.
I for one know that they did alot of good.
Many others do alot less good and dip in the till a whole lot more.
That doesn’t make it right to dip at all, of course.
Will be interesting to see how this shakes out.
Arabian Rescue Mission went through a similar situation of using rescue money for personal expenses [if this proves to be true in this case] and is still out there doing what they do with lots of support.
She says on FB that she is not a 501c3. I wonder if that figures in somehow? Not sure what good a receipt would do you if they aren’t a charity.
Apparently “charity” and “non profit 501c3” are not one in the same.
Charities have to follow the laws within their state. If she were a 501c3 she would also be facing federal prosecution. The Ohio Atty General is the one who filed this complaint after what looks like a 8-9 month investigation.
It just seems like this could have all been avoided by paying herself a salary.
[QUOTE=Laurierace;7442340]
Couldn’t she have just paid herself a wage out of the rescue’s funds? Or did she do that and this was allegedly above and beyond that? I have done lots of volunteer hours for horse rescues and they would often take cash out of the donation jar to buy us lunch and such when were are at the expos.[/QUOTE]
As long as the cash is accounted for, and the food purchased accounted for, under any business accounting this kind of thing can be a deduction as a marketing/business expense. Meals and Entertainment for corporations are usually only 1/2 deductible, though. But it needs to be documented. Anyone who just takes the cash out and spends it without recording it as a contribution/income in ANY business is committing fraud, even if it’s on the low end.
I don’t think expenses to Victorias Secret are legit business expenses no matter what spin you put on it though!
Any time someone comments with the link to the legal document above it disappears from the comments.
When managing anything, no matter what, any time you give someone what amounts to a blank check and little to no oversight, you are setting that person up to possibly fail.
Most people, even the more honest ones, no matter how honest they think they are, opportunity may make fools of them.
The longer someone is in a position to get sticky fingers, the more apt they are, when in some perceived need, to start “dipping into the cookie jar”, with one or another excuse.
Maybe the first few times they will return the money “borrowed” promptly, but the longer the opportunity offers to them, without consequences, the less they resist and more they kid themselves that “it’s ok, just this one more time, I will return it anyway”.
So it goes, down the slippery slope.:no:
Better never put anyone in that situation, never let anyone set you in such a position.
Always manage where more than one is accountable and everyone is supervising what is going on.
It protects all involved, the assets managed and the ones managing properly.
I don’t know how my first riding instructor learned that lesson, but he made it very, very clear to me and it has served me very well all my life.
Sadly, I have also seen too many good people fail when put in that situation, in business, in churches and rescues and just most any place, any one.
That is not even counting the ones that are crooks to start with and hunt such positions to steal as much as they can get by.
This, as so many rescues are, is just one more such instance of not a good management situation, open to abuse.
AG’s don’t go after people for innocent errors or lapses in judgment. Nor are they inclined to go after people who are trying their best and are going through growing pains with their new organization.
AG’s go after people for intentionally committing a crime. Reading the allegations… it looks like her “charity” was a front and she knowingly committed the fraud.
She’s lucky she didn’t commit the fraud as a 501©(3) - the IRS is not an agency one should piss off.
The Snarky Rider Blog (page) on Facebook has some interesting comments and photos as well.
Unfortunately, under oath in June 2013, she stated that she provided ALL transactions from her charity’s Paypal account and registered checking account. When asked again if she is sure she did so, she responded yes. If the AG is asking you the same question, under oath, you had better answer that question honestly. There is a reason they are asking you twice.
Never, never lie under oath.
The AG also shut down Serenity Horse Rescue. They’re really cracking down.
Article refers to both Frog Pond and Serenity.
http://www.fox45now.com/shared/news/top-stories/stories/wrgt_vid_18752.shtml
[QUOTE=Angela Freda;7442438]
I for one know that they did alot of good.
Many others do alot less good and dip in the till a whole lot more.
That doesn’t make it right to dip at all, of course.
Will be interesting to see how this shakes out.
Arabian Rescue Mission went through a similar situation of using rescue money for personal expenses [if this proves to be true in this case] and is still out there doing what they do with lots of support.[/QUOTE]
Did they lie under oath?
I have no idea.
Did Lisa G? [I have not read much of the news reports other than to see what rescue was involved and the amount of money].
