Earlier this year, Grits had written about a scam charity raising money supposedly to give to families of two Dallas police officers killed in the line of duty, but which in reality gave only a small fraction of funds raised to officers' families.
Now, Naomi Martin at the Dallas News has the story of another scam charity doing the same thing, this time operated by a Dallas police sergeant. Go read the whole thing, she did a great job.
This blog has criticized these phony law enforcement scams for years, but the Attorney General's office seems incapable of reining them in and, otherwise, only the toothless Better Business Bureau even tries.
Many of our statewide politicians spend a great deal of time telling us how much they respect and admire law enforcement. So how is it that in 2018, 15 years after Republicans took control of Texas state government, these bogus charities are still allowed to raise money in the name of police widows but pocket most of the cash themselves or share it with their friends via lucrative fundraising contracts? There has to be a way to limit this sort of cash-grubbing chicanery.
I believe your answer lies in two lawyers' questions used to direct investigations. First follow the money. Where does the lion's share of the proceeds from the charities in question wind up? Finding out the final destination of the funds will help you answer the second question who benefits? Answer that one and you'll know why the state law enforcement agencies can't seem to stop scam charities that purport to raise money for LEOs.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Sergeant is just trying to scrape up some money since his pension is in the crapper?
ReplyDelete