Each episode of LA Fireplace & Rescue, a short-lived 2023 NBC docuseries, ended the identical method.
After watching L.A. County firefighters pull off heroic rescues, viewers had been requested to donate to a nonprofit that raised cash for the county hearth division.
However among the cash earned by the Los Angeles County Fireplace Division Basis by the present and different fundraising efforts by no means reached the division, attorneys representing the county authorities allege.
The county has sued the muse, accusing it of utilizing the fireplace division’s emblem and lifesaving work to gather donations after which working a private “slush fund.” The questionable spending, in keeping with the county, included $232,500 paid to the muse’s president, Stacy Mungo Flanigan, since final 12 months.
The muse has denied any wrongdoing, asserting that each one donations benefited firefighters throughout Southern California, with greater than $5 million going towards the L.A. County Fireplace Division.
Mungo Flanigan’s legal professional stated the funds to her consumer included a bonus for profitable fundraising efforts.
Since then-Fireplace Chief Daryl Osby began the muse in 2015, the county has allowed it to lift cash utilizing the fireplace division emblem with the understanding that the funds could be spent on first responders, in keeping with authorized filings by county attorneys.
Attorneys met in a choose’s chambers Friday afternoon to attempt to settle a fierce months-long authorized battle that has pitted the county in opposition to Osby, who nonetheless chairs the muse.
Both sides accuses the opposite of squandering treasured assets meant for first responders.
“The donors and the County need to know the place these funds went,” stated L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who first referred to as for an investigation into the muse final 12 months.
Osby, who retired in 2022 after making historical past because the division’s first Black hearth chief, stated his former employer is losing its money and time.
“I can solely think about the substantial taxpayer funds that had been meant for public security that the fireplace division and Los Angeles County has spent on this lawsuit,” Osby stated in a press release.
County attorneys instructed the choose on Friday that earlier than contemplating a settlement, they need to evaluation extra financial institution information to account for all of the donations.
From 2019 to 2022, the muse acquired a mean of $1.9 million a 12 months in “presents, grants and contributions,” in keeping with court docket filings.
The muse has already turned over hundreds of pages of paperwork to the county by the lawsuit and is prepared to present the county the roughly $2 million left in its checking account, its legal professionals stated.
Supervisor Janice Hahn referred to as for an investigation into the muse final 12 months.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Instances)
Mungo Flanigan acquired two bonuses from the muse this 12 months, in keeping with court docket filings — one for $75,000 and one for $82,500.
These bonuses had been tied to her work efficiency in 2021 and 2022 however weren’t paid out till not too long ago, basis legal professionals stated.
Mungo Flanigan additionally works in administrative providers for the L.A. County Fireplace Division, receiving compensation final 12 months of about $254,000, in keeping with wage information.
The muse can provide “cheap” monetary compensation to its president, in keeping with basis bylaws. Tax filings present that Mungo Flanigan acquired $75,000 from the muse in 2022 and nothing in 2021.
“The board had lots of the explanation why she deserved the cash, contemplating she was working 15 hours a day and bringing in tens of millions of {dollars},” stated Carol Gillam, Mungo Flanigan’s legal professional. “She was terribly profitable at bringing this cash in.”
Since April, Mungo Flanigan has acquired month-to-month $12,500 funds from the muse “to help in responding to the lawsuit,” in keeping with filings.
County attorneys have additionally questioned the practically $900,000 a vendor acquired from the muse, paid out in practically 50 checks, “a lot of which contained no memo explaining the explanations.”
The seller, FireRescueStuff, bought merchandise — hoodies, hats, pins — that the muse then bought in its on-line retailer, in keeping with basis attorneys.
FireRescueStuff’s proprietor, Jon Schultz, instructed The Instances that he began the enterprise in 2022 on the request of each the muse and the fireplace division. He stated the division instructed him it wanted assist delivery hundreds of uniforms for its junior lifeguard program.
Every thing was executed, he stated, in partnership with the fireplace division. He stated many of the checks highlighted by county legal professionals had been reimbursements from the muse.
“I wouldn’t be promoting trinkets on an internet site if I had made $900,000,” he stated.
Former Fireplace Chief Daryl Osby, who created the muse in 2015, referred to as the county’s lawsuit frivolous.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Instances)
Osby created the muse to pay for packages and gear that weren’t throughout the division’s finances. The L.A. County Sheriff’s Division has an identical relationship with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Basis, which takes in cash “to help the LASD,” in keeping with its web site.
The hearth basis acquired mail at a fireplace division constructing. Its net URL was supportlacountyfire.com. And it was allowed to fundraise utilizing the fireplace division’s emblem, plastering it on merchandise in its on-line retailer.
The county stated it allowed this below the belief that “each greenback” raised by the muse could be spent on firefighters.
In a July declaration, Osby stated it was “well-known” that the muse supported not solely the fireplace division however organizations “that lifted up the group,” together with associations for Black and feminine firefighters.
Osby wrote that “the connection with the Basis modified dramatically” when Anthony Marrone turned everlasting chief in February 2023 and instructed Osby he was not eager about taking up as chair of the muse.
Marrone stated in a press release he “didn’t see the necessity” to step in.
“I assumed it was finest for the nonprofit to have an unbiased board,” he stated. “However I’ve at all times supported the Fireplace Basis and appreciated all of the fundraising it did on the Fireplace District’s behalf.”
Final 12 months, the board of supervisors realized that the muse had gone into “delinquent” standing with the California Division of Justice, which regulates charities, because of lacking paperwork. The designation meant the group was barred from fundraising.
Mungo Flanigan beforehand instructed The Instances that she had no thought concerning the lacking paperwork and filed it as quickly as she realized of the issue.
The county despatched a cease-and-desist letter warning the muse to cease utilizing the county emblem, then sued in February, arguing that the muse was poised to disburse $3 million meant for firefighters.
On the county’s request, a choose agreed to freeze many of the basis’s cash, apart from what it wanted to pay authorized charges, and wind the muse down. The muse is not actively soliciting donations on its web site.