Millions were raised to help L.A. County firefighters. Where did it go?

Each episode of LA Fireplace & Rescue, a short-lived 2023 NBC docuseries, ended the identical approach.

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 fireplace division.

However among the cash earned by the Los Angeles County Fireplace Division Basis by means of 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 hearth division’s brand and lifesaving work to gather donations after which working a private “slush fund.” The questionable spending, in line 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 lawyer mentioned the funds to her shopper included a bonus for profitable fundraising efforts.

Since then-Fireplace Chief Daryl Osby began the muse in 2015, the county has allowed it to boost cash utilizing the hearth division brand with the understanding that the funds can be spent on first responders, in line with authorized filings by county attorneys.

Attorneys met in a decide’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.

All sides accuses the opposite of squandering valuable sources meant for first responders.

“The donors and the County should know the place these funds went,” mentioned L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who first known 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 fireplace chief, mentioned 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 hearth division and Los Angeles County has spent on this lawsuit,” Osby mentioned in a press release.

County attorneys informed the decide on Friday that earlier than contemplating a settlement, they wish to evaluate extra financial institution information to account for all of the donations.

From 2019 to 2022, the muse obtained a median of $1.9 million a 12 months in “items, grants and contributions,” in line with court docket filings.

The muse has already turned over 1000’s of pages of paperwork to the county by means of the lawsuit and is keen to provide the county the roughly $2 million left in its checking account, its legal professionals mentioned.

Mungo Flanigan obtained two bonuses from the muse this 12 months, in line 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 just lately, basis legal professionals mentioned.

Mungo Flanigan additionally works in administrative companies for the L.A. County Fireplace Division, receiving compensation final 12 months of about $254,000, in line with wage information.

The muse may give “affordable” monetary compensation to its president, in line with basis bylaws. Tax filings present that Mungo Flanigan obtained $75,000 from the muse in 2022 and nothing in 2021.

“The board had numerous the explanation why she deserved the cash, contemplating she was working 15 hours a day and bringing in thousands and thousands of {dollars},” mentioned Carol Gillam, Mungo Flanigan’s lawyer. “She was terribly profitable at bringing this cash in.”

Since April, Mungo Flanigan has obtained month-to-month $12,500 funds from the muse “to help in responding to the lawsuit,” in line with filings.

County attorneys have additionally questioned the almost $900,000 a vendor obtained from the muse, paid out in almost 50 checks, “lots of which contained no memo explaining the explanations.”

The seller, FireRescueStuff, bought merchandise — hoodies, hats, pins — that the muse then offered in its on-line retailer, in line with basis attorneys.

FireRescueStuff’s proprietor, Jon Schultz, informed The Occasions that he began the enterprise in 2022 on the request of each the muse and the hearth division. He mentioned the division informed him it wanted assist delivery 1000’s of uniforms for its junior lifeguard program.

The whole lot was finished, he mentioned, in partnership with the hearth division. He mentioned a lot of the checks highlighted by county legal professionals had been reimbursements from the muse.

“I wouldn’t be promoting trinkets on a web site if I had made $900,000,” he mentioned.

Osby created the muse to pay for packages and gear that weren’t throughout the division’s funds. 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 line with its web site.

The fireplace basis obtained mail at a hearth division constructing. Its net URL was supportlacountyfire.com. And it was allowed to fundraise utilizing the hearth division’s brand, plastering it on merchandise in its on-line retailer.

The county mentioned it allowed this beneath the belief that “each greenback” raised by the muse can be spent on firefighters.

In a July declaration, Osby mentioned it was “well-known” that the muse supported not solely the hearth division however organizations “that lifted up the neighborhood,” 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 informed Osby he was not occupied with taking up as chair of the muse.

Marrone mentioned in a press release he “didn’t see the necessity” to step in.

“I assumed it was finest for the nonprofit to have an impartial board,” he mentioned. “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 learned that the muse had gone into “delinquent” standing with the California Division of Justice, which regulates charities, resulting from lacking paperwork. The designation meant the group was barred from fundraising.

Mungo Flanigan beforehand informed The Occasions that she had no concept in regards to the lacking paperwork and filed it as quickly as she discovered of the issue.

The county despatched a cease-and-desist letter warning the muse to cease utilizing the county brand, then sued in February, arguing that the muse was poised to disburse $3 million meant for firefighters.

On the county’s request, a decide agreed to freeze a lot 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.