Sham charity that pocketed East Palestine donations must pay $131K in settlement
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A sham charity that pocketed thousands of dollars after claiming to collect donations for East Palestine residents must pay up.
Attorney General Dave Yost's office announced a settlement Wednesday with the Ohio Clean Water Fund months after suing the organization and its founder, Leetonia resident Mike Peppel. Yost said the group claimed it partnered with the Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley to collect donations for bottled water.
Residents of the village along the Ohio-Pennsylvania border started drinking bottled water after a Norfolk Southern train went off the tracks Feb. 3 and spilled toxic chemicals into the air, water and soil.
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According to the initial complaint, Peppel sent text messages to solicit contributions and raised $141,000 from roughly 3,200 donors. He then spent over $100,000 on fees and gave just $10,000 to the food bank after being confronted about his activities.
Yost said food bank representatives complained to his office and said they hadn't authorized a partnership with Peppel.
Per the settlement, the Ohio Clean Water Fund must dissolve and pay over $131,000 in restitution and civil penalties. Yost's office will give roughly $117,000 to the food bank for bottled water and other emergency aid for East Palestine. The $15,000 civil penalty will go into the attorney general's charitable law fund.
"I stand by my word to fight for the community of East Palestine,” Yost said in a statement. "We sued to make sure the contributions improperly solicited from well-intentioned donors get into the hands of people who will use them for their intended purposes. Our fight isn’t over, but this is a win."
Yost's agreement includes a deal with one of the organization's board members, but the lawsuit against Peppel is ongoing. Peppel previously worked for state Sen. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, and U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, whose districts include East Palestine.
Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio train derailment: AG says sham charity must turn over donations
