Today’s post is brought to you by Dixie. I think it’s important information for everybody to have as we settle into a holding pattern. She explains things much better than I can. Any questions, please just drop them in the comments and she’ll get to them as she can. This is really important information, so please take the time to read it carefully and spread the word if you choose. Thank you to Dixie for putting this together!
I’ve promised many times to try to do a walk through of previous cases of charitable organization rescue fraud in order to better explain what the offices, etc. are looking for in regards to making an organization accountable for their actions.
I apologize for the delay in doing so—many of you are in touch with me on a personal basis, some aren’t, but suffice it to say that I haven’t been able to be online much at all these last few months for personal health reasons. I can’t say that it is going to change anytime soon, but what I DO promise is that not one of us have ever stopped what we are continuing to do in regards to making Michelle Knuttila, as well as her accomplices (better referred to as her BOD) known and accountable to the Attorney General, as well as many others. Please note that I am not a lawyer, merely someone who has a passing acquaintance with 501c3 laws. I can’t answer all questions, nor do I claim to, but I was fortunate enough to consult with a wonderful lawyer who specializes in 501c3 charities and a deep love of horses.
This recent case, as reported by Horse Authority at https://horseauthority.co/8-million-verdict-gregory-horse-rescue-scam-charities-california-ag/ came to a close on November 16, 2018, but let’s explore it a little deeper to get an idea of the time that it took for the AG to begin prosecuting this case after a lengthy investigation, which took probably about 4-5 years, if not a little longer due to the fact that they claimed to be a 501c3 in the beginning when they were, in fact, not. The AG has now filed suit against this sham charity in the amount of 8 million dollars. It is my hope that by dissecting some of these charges, it can help people recognize exactly what the authorities look for, how it is charged, and possibly a time line to help explain why exactly it is taking so long.
On April 17, 2017, the AG first filed an order for what is called an “involuntary dissolution,” because they were being disbanded for fraudulent activities. That is the very tail end of the entire case, investigations, etc, meaning that by this time the AG office had gathered enough evidence to force the organization to shut down, which took approximately 2-3 years. After doing so, the AG appointed a receiver to dissolve the charity, oversee the disbursement of assets, etc. because as we all know the law states that assets must be disbursed to other 501(c)3 charities, as well as other items. Their charges contain only a few of what we have proven that Michelle, as well as her Board of Directors, have done:
A) Breach of fiduciary duty
B ) Deceptive and misleading solicitations for funds
C) Breach of fiduciary relationship, meaning that they were failing to act in the best interests of the charity or its donors
D) Self dealing—meaning that a trustee (Michelle, Romney, and other members of the BOD, who were obligated in fiduciary matters to act in the best interest of the charity ) taking action in their OWN best interests in transactions instead of the charity, with one such example being the fact that they were living on a multimillion dollar property and donors were paying for it when in fact they could have rented a smaller property at less than half that price and made it viable.
E) Unjust enrichment, which is be self-explanatory
Those are just some of the charges which the officers mentioned in the lawsuit were facing.
From the article above, I was intrigued to note that this AG office, unlike a few others that we have seen in various states, really took it down to individual instances, as can be evidenced by the press release:
“The jury found the Gregory defendants acted illegally 3,430 times .” That gives me a chuckle right there, because that tells me that they didn’t simply take one instance and go for prosecution based on an “overall instance.” It means that the Attorney General explored every inch of their finances and identified every single instance of these people not acting in the best interest of the charitable organization which they founded.
Also note that the charitable Mission statement, which Shed and I have long mentioned as being pivotal to any case, is written out in its entirety. A charity MUST abide by its mission statement, period—in all previous cases resulting in convictions such as HMER, AC4H, FPF, etc—a mission statement is quoted in the charges as being at the crux of any formal case.
Number 5 is pretty much self-explanatory, and something of which we are all aware: Charities MUST file taxes, and in Michelle’s case, 2017 taxes still remain unfiled but reads current due to a slight glitch in the AG computer system. Because they filed their 2016 taxes in 2018, the computer recognizes that as filing in 2018, so reads as current but needs to be updated manually. Attempts have been made to notify them of the issue but not with any exigency (see what I did there, Michelle?) because she claims to now being soliciting for donations only for herself and not on behalf of the charity. However, as noted in the final write-up of charges in the above case with the Wounded Warriors Support Program and Central Coast Equine Rescue and Retirement, a court order was issued that none of the founders, members of the BOD, etc could serve on the board of any charity, nor can they solicit donations for personal use or otherwise. That is important, and what will happen to Michelle as well as anyone associated with her. I can attest to the fact that AG offices do tend to be very interested in this after the fact, and when people see anyone of her cronies or BOD members attempting to solicit donations under their names for her, it will continue to need to be reported. I have every faith that the people in her area will be keeping a close eye on her.
Reading through the charges, you will note that even though the people listed in the above case are family, they are all charged with profiting off of the rescue, for anyone wondering why we have made it a point to continue to name Romney, Amanda, Robyn, as well as others for the fact that they profited off of the charity. Amanda for using the charitable assets (horses) to start her own ahem “riding lessons” business, as well as the people who received horses through so-called adoptions, etc. In each of those cases, they profited off of the charity for their own personal enrichment. Donor funds were used to purchase the horses at X amount of dollars, and these people “adopted” the horses for themselves, for the sum of 1.00. Each person in the above case were charged in amounts ranging from 140k to over 2 million dollars, depending on just how much they gained by doing so. All of the officers of the charity were charged, and some who were not officers but whom benefitted were also named (including their lawyer, I found that interesting!)
Various charges, that I won’t cover much of, had to do with money not being used for the purpose in which it was solicited. In this case it will potentially be applied to Michelle’s car payments, spyware, fast food, personal pets, credit cards, bills, and so much more.
I will also skip over most of the charges relating to the fact that they did not keep sufficient records regarding donations, etc as that is pretty much self-explanatory. (I guess someone must have stolen their receipts, too!) The charges state that the AG is going by bank records and estimates that the fraudulent charity in reality owes a lot more than that for which they are being charged. In essence, that details precisely what they either are or will be doing in regards to Michelle’s instance but lets people know that they can indeed proceed with only bank records, which they subpoena as part of their investigation.
In 2016 the AG ordered a cease and desist of their raffles, which is not what they did to Michelle, because they only needed to update—however, that adds yet another year to the timeline.
The Attorney General Office did have to file for an order for involuntary dissolution of the charitable corporation, and appoint a receiver to protect and oversee the remaining assets. This is slightly different case than Michelle, who claims that she “dissolved,” HiCaliber herself, which is not going to be recognized by the State and still leaves her open to being charged for failing to do so. There is a possibility that it could leave her open to even MORE charges, because at this point it could be claimed that she absconded with the charitable assets, money, etc and is selling them for personal use, a point which some of us are attempting to make with the San Diego DA.
Going to skip a lot, but if you take a look at 41 (A), the charges of misuse of restricted donations. In that case, it mentions that solicitation of donations would be used to help a therapeutic riding center, and injured veterans. Instead, funds were used to pay personal expenses, etc.
In Michelle’s case, certain items like the tanning bed, concert tickets, tack, blankets, etc. which were donated to be used to raise funds for the horses, instead were used by Michelle and her cohorts for themselves and did not benefit the purpose for which it was intended. (There are many more instances, but those are the ones off the top of my head.) Charge 43, in this case, can be used when one thinks of the 10k donation received for the care of certain horses, at least one of which was then shot, and the other horses were soon taken from the rescue and sent elsewhere, with no funding from the original 10k ever provided to their previous owners, meaning it did not get used for the purpose for which it was intended.
There are obvious and other charges throughout this that I am skipping, such as the failure to keep meeting minutes, books, receipts, etc. but this post is lengthy enough and those are pretty much self-explanatory. This includes the presentation of false information to the IRS, the State of California, as well as disseminating false information to the public.
Charge 61(G) Operating with the intent to deceive or defraud
Again, self-explanatory and we saw it every week. An obvious explanation was the changing price of auction horses, as well as the claims all funds raised were going to purchase the horses from auction but not mentioning the Starbucks, eating out, and everything else we watched occur every Tuesday.
The Third Cause of Action is interesting:
“…has used the funds to fund her lifestyle, and used charitable funds to maintain her personal horses and other equestrian related props.” We can all see how that relates to Michelle and the fact that she was keeping 20-25 horses of her own on donations which were intended for the charity. Horse Authority quoted the Attorney General, Xavier Becerra’s own words when he stated “the charity used donor funds to board and care for the Gregory family’s personal horses.” (Gina Gregory is a lawyer, personal relation, and also named in the charges.)
The Fifth Cause of Action is too long to get into, but what is important is this:
“…imposes a charitable trust on funds collected for charitable purposes, and a ‘fiduciary relationship between a charity and any person soliciting on behalf of a charity’…”
That part is important, because it leaves open each and every person who continued to solicit funds for Michelle including Romney, Robyn, et al, especially as they were aware that the money was NOT going towards its intended purpose. Some, yes—but not all, nor was it ever divulged to the public that not all funds were going to the horses but instead to support their lifestyles.
They cover the unjust enrichment part and explain it pretty well, so seeing the parallels between their actions and the HiCaliber team are pretty obvious when you read the charges. It’s 5 am here and this post is pretty damned long, so I think I have bored you enough for tonight—but hope that it will give you guys a better look at what exactly the AG looks for when dealing with fraudulent charities, and how we—and anyone dealing with a case like this in the future, because it WILL happen, it is human nature— aimed at noting Michelle’s actions in particular to gain the interest of the officials by having an idea of what exactly the officials are looking for in regards to starting an investigation and seeing it through. Throughout the US, almost every single OAG office overseeing charities is looking for items such as this, and remains true from state to state.
As you can see, the OAG won the lawsuit against them for over 8 million dollars. It is interesting to note that the Wounded Warriors Support Group’s page here on the Registry verification database shows that at no time did they ever succeed in bringing in over a million dollars a year; as a matter of fact, their highest yearly claims were $648,891.00 . Of course I didn’t look up the other businesses that benefitted, but it also brings to mind her new “Alphamare, LLC” and how they can work that into her charges, when they are filed. Most importantly, to me: “The court issued a judgment for the involuntary dissolution of the charities. A court order permanently prohibits the defendants from operating or serving on the board of any California charity. They are also prohibited from soliciting any type of donation. “ This means them, personally, as an individual, which will put paid to Michelle’s hopes of living the rest of her life on other people’s money. It is also something that will have to be continually monitored, for several years, and evidence provided to the AG, especially if it is one of her friends, or her alter egos—but trust me, that is one thing that they WILL enforce, with evidence.
Timeline to have this all done took almost 5 years, as best as I can tell from the paperwork because of course it doesn’t mention the dates that the investigation actually began. Frustrating, but something that Shed and I knew when we began attempting to get this to the attention of the authorities. The last time I looked, and I cannot remember where I found it, sadly enough but it is on the AG site somewhere—was that there were 250 cases on the AG’s log, and I believe that at that time 36 cases were currently being prosecuted. I am going off of memory but I think there are 4-6 Deputy Attorney Generals, who are responsible for prosecuting the cases. That means all four of them are responsible for the current prosecutions of the 35 cases at that time (again, going by memory which I freely admit is not functioning at 100% right now) which means that they are tremendously busy at any given time, hence the reason why getting an investigation started, and to the court room, takes so much time. Frustrating for us, absolutely—but I do have faith that it will happen, as we have always stated, just not in the timeline that we wish it would happen.
For some amusement value, especially as it pertains to Shed—be sure to read to the bottom of the Horse Authority article, in the link provided above. Apparently the family members involved attempted to sue media outlets for reporting on the case after the investigation was announced. However, a digital media lawyer proclaimed to the court that he would file a motion under the California Anti SLAPP (actually, it is available anywhere) law, which protects free speech, to strike the motion down. One might do well to study the SLAPP law, which is interesting in itself but an easy definition provided by Horse Authority is that “A SLAPP suit, or a strategic lawsuit against public participation, is a civil claim filed to ‘silence and harass’ by forcing a defendant to spend money and time defending a baseless suit, according to The Public Participation Project. “ It might behoove others to be aware of this statute and use it to their advantage.
In closing I want to say this.
One of the first things to be aware when something might not be all it is purported to be is us types of people, AKA ‘haters.”Trust me, even the best rescues have detractors, maybe because they are disgruntled people turned down for adoption, or even some other reason known only to them. You might expect to see 5 or 10, depending on how many alter egos they make up. But when a rescue begins to have 20, 30 and more people beginning to raise questions, it is a good idea to remember that old adage, “Where there is smoke, there is usually fire.”
Be informed. Be aware. It is ok to simply study the laws in your state, as did I and countless others to learn this stuff.. It doesn’t mean you are the rescue police, it simply means that you are a well-informed consumer who knows when a rescue is “doing it right,” and can place your trust in supporting someone. Even more importantly, as we saw with Michelle, and others—many times people start out with the best of intentions and then go bad once the lure of easy money starts coming in. I absolutely believed in one of the above rescues charged by their state and supported them, but at the end, I realized when others presented their evidence that all was no longer on the up and up and then assisted in bringing it to the State’s attention. It doesn’t mean you are stupid, or a fool—unless you refuse to believe what the evidence shows. It has happened to many, many of us, trust me. The only idiots are those who continue to not believe when the evidence is right in front of them. Hell I trusted HiCaliber at first, too—just not enough to give them my money, unlike the other.
Let’s work together—and make no mistake, it is going to be you, and the other people you educate from what you’ve learned in this situation to carry this burden, because I won’t be around and no guarantees for Shed—to make certain that situations like this are not allowed to grow to the size of this fiasco in the future before someone takes action. A reputable rescue has absolutely no problems answering questions with transparency and accountability, if asked with respect. They have no problem with accounting for money, assets, purchases, etc. We have the power to prevent this from happening again. Let’s make certain it doesn’t by being well-informed, and aware of the responsibilities of a charitable organization has to its donors, as well as the public.
I hope she does, because there is a line to report disability fraud, as well as everything else. And you know what? Turns out disability has an issue with people who own numerous horses and go riding and everything else, especially with “back injuries.” There was another California rescue whose founder lost her disability because of photos showing them mucking stalls (not that M would lower herself to that, of course) , horseback riding, and out bags of feed while out feeding and watering.
She’s an idiot if she doesn’t think people would send those types of videos and photos in.Hell, people wouldn’t even have to wait till she actually filed.
I’m sure she is furiously googling for a disability that warrants copious quantities of opiates but is also purely subjective.
remember when Brokeback Manson fell off that horse when he was standing perfectly still? That clip is on here somewhere, hilarious…amazing no ER visit
True but the horse she fell off of is no longer living. I hope those two things aren’t related.
oh no 😦
Unfortunately, I don’t see Michelle stopping. While she may ultimately be barred from fundraising in California, there are 49 other states where she can.
Unless she completely changes her look, name and grift, she’s going to have a very hard time setting up shop in any state as a rescue. She may as well go back to selling her dirty panties on craigslist. I’ll even send her a case of granny panties to get her started.
DasGus, while true, if we continue to monitor the situation and are aware of where she settles, it would be possible to contact the other AG of various states, or notify the California AG, and see if orders could possibly be issued to the other states to crease fundraising.
AG laws are the same across the united States, for the most part, and in addition to that, if the IRS has a hand in it as well, that is federal and applies to all states across the US. It’s a matter of continuing to monitor her.
I had a little time on my hands, so I went back and read the entire saga from the beginning (starting with the very first entry on HC)
I found this blog because I was actually trying to find out what ultimately happened to AC4H. I admit to being a reformed AC4H village idiot. What went on at HiC makes AC4H seem downright benevolent.
What a horrifying business model- buy old, sick, or broken down horses, solicit donations for their “care”, then neglect them and ultimately shoot them, because bullets are cheaper than chemical euthanasia. Then take the money designated for their care and spend it wherever.
And, after rereading your story from beginning to end, one of the many really sad, horrific things is that I don’t think they sat down and deliberately dreamed this whole enterprise up. It seems like they started out with somewhat good intentions. It’s not clear what might have happened along the way.
D’s explanation of the law and of the process was excellent. It’s horrific how long this was allowed to go on.
And how many other “rescue” organizations like this are out there? I will Never donate to a rescue in the future without checking it out.
Only Manson can answer what happened along the way but from what I’m told by former volunteers, Romney Faye happened. Manson has always been a small time hustler and lazy bitch, but Romney Faye is the one that came in and wanted bigger, more and kicked the whole thing up several levels. Whether that is true is something for the various agencies to sort out.
I actually happened to be reading an unrelated article today in The Horse about the difference between an actual rescue and horse hoarding. It wasn’t about HiCaliber and didn’t mention it. But the pings kept pinging, all the way through.
The well-intentioned hoarder may have been the beginning of HiCaliber, although some of their own reported backstory from their website indicates that finding a way to monetize the herd was a major interest well before M & R ever met. I’m curious if that idea somehow started among the pitbulls?
Anyway, then somehow between Romney and some high-powered zigzag brain waves, HiCaliber became like someone dropped a match on a pile of roman candle fireworks. It wasn’t just the fundraising. It was the endless string of urgencies. Every few days a new crisis unfolding. If you looked away for a few days, you’d miss some new turning point.
Here’s the link to the pub that includes the article “Good Intentions Gone Wrong” for anyone interested. You can read the intro for free. It’s $15 sub to read the whole thing, though.
https://thehorse.com/161196/rescuing-horses-good-intentions-gone-wrong/
I’ve mentioned this video earlier in the blog. You brought up high powered zigzag brainwaves and Romney so I’ll share my favorite Romney is a dipshit moment. She’s always been so look at me.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1206342892781045&id=355518451196831
LOL NDTC!
My personal favorite is of RFB in the back pens at Ontario with the llama. Mr Llama turned out to be a great judge of character.
It amazes me how so many animals are quick to spot the jerks and phonies.
Too true! I heard about the Llama but never could bring myself to watch it. Truth be told I could only watch a portion of this without wanting to fall on a sword.
Do I think the seagull needed to sit and suffer?
No.
Do I think her chasing it around like that helped?
Fuck No.
Do I believe they actually took it to get help?
Show me the receipts. Lol!
When Romney Fae came on board I’d wait for auction to be over and try to fast forward through their ugly mugs and the cryin’, lyin’ and buyin’ crap. I still didn’t see too many horses.
For people who wish to continue to raise their voices, a prime example of what needs to be sent into the AG right now is the tack, the fence panels, etc, which have been stolen from the charity. The fact that she has not officially dissolved the charity means, in essence, that she has stolen it all from the charitable trust, and her attempts to sell it have also been mentioned, as well as proof.
As I have always mentioned, emails need to be sent to (two part process, just to be sure.) :
complaints@doj.ca.gov and in that format photos, screenshots, etc can be included with that complaint. ALWAYS make sure that an automated reply comes to your email inbox, showing that the complaint has been received. If you don’t receive it the first time, resend it until you get that automated reply.
I also make sure that I send in the CT-9 form. Although I fax it in from my office, it can also be sent in by snail mail.
Click to access ct9.pdf
If you wish to know other things that you can place in your complaint, then it doesn’t matter if we mention old information again because with the publicity the case generated, it has all been brought to the forefront again:
Screenshots showing her original claim that tenants would pay rent so that it did not come out of the rescue funds (we know it did, so that is yet another example of misleading the donors, breach of fiduciary duty, and more in maintaining the rent so that the horses had a safe place to stay) the unpaid bills for which the charitable trust was responsible, her announcement that she was “dissolving” the charity yet did not and in fact took all of the assets with her when she left, which is a criminal act and not merely civil, and hell even sending in the instance of the funds raised for the horse which she claimed was a Wounded Warrior horse, with the current attention being given to the Gregory case. Repeating information is not important–what IS important is that the public is paying attention, and this case is current. I live in hope that we can find a way to get her to the top of the pile and not whatever point she rests at now.
I totally agree. Are those horses her horses or do the belong to the rescue. She can’t adopt a rescue horse for 1 dollar that’s fraud. She is still begging for donations for her personal stuff while she still has not disbanded the rescue thats criminal fraud. Safest place for her is jail.
And if she is in fact collecting disability benefits Horses Cattle and Hogs lol are considered assets. There are asset restrictions on that kind of SSI.
https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-resources-ussi.htm
https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-resources-ussi.htm
That’s a criminal fraud case.
She is not on disablity now, although I have no doubt that she is going to try again in the future because an uneducated person like herself with no morals nor ethics could not possibly hope to get hired for a respectable job, especially not with the history she is making now. The first employer to Google her background will receive an insane amount of hits.
She previously tried, claiming a TBI, and her employers and investigators proved she did not have one so she was not entitled to benefits.
So… This is where I’m confused with the whole conflict of interest thing. Is the conflict of interest because she was injured in the job, denied bennifits and then sued to try to prove she deserved bennifits or is there something totally different going on?
The whole thing seems odd and it’s even odder that Kat Tarnowski is still employed but maybe I’m just being judgy.
Kat Tarnowski needs to be hauled up on the carpet for part in all of this.
Her turning a blind eye to it all as well as hampering investigations boggles the mind
Yes!
She does and I’ve noticed she hasn’t been in any news articles lately. Are they hiding the hypocrisy of her educating the public on animal hoarding? I forgot she hampered investigations and ratted out the people filing complaints until Triple R mentioned it. Pretty scummy.
She was in a news story on the fires complete with her picture in it.
Was she? Isn’t she special? I always love it when assholes skate out of situations.
I’d like to see her in a news story showing her involvement in the HiCaliber involvement. I think my expectations are a little high. I guess I can dream big?
Are we sure there’s no brain damage? 🤭
I actually feel very sorry for anybody that might hire her because you know as soon as the probably period is up, she’s going to manifest another injury or condition.
Just wondering – Does the CA AG take complaints from out of state? My assumption has been that things need to be reported by a legal resident of CA, because that’s the DA’s constituency and who they represent.
In fact, I’ve been figuring that the only charges the CA AG will pursue are from complaints by CA citizens. That the numbers of villagers from elsewhere will not count, because they aren’t who the CA AG is representing.
I’m not sure what a disgruntled donor from outside CA could do, legally. That is, a donor who wishes to complain about the misuse of the funds they donated – I’m guessing there isn’t much they can do, legally.
I’m not sure but since they solicited donations from out of states and even internationally, I’m thinking you could file a complaint as a donor? Worst they could do is redirect you.
Just putting this out here…
https://www.irs.gov/charities-non-profits/charitable-organizations/charitable-solicitation-state-requirements
And this, too.
https://trust.guidestar.org/online-fundraising-and-charitable-solicitation-registration
Thank you for the links. Very good info!
MHinTexas, the OAG does take in complaints from out of state. Some of us have worked with officials in multiple states in cases such as this. That is part of where that pesky phrase comes in, “A charitable trust is responsible to the public, as well as donors.” They use social media and other avenues to solicit from across the world, therefore complaints can be taken from anywhere.
When it comes to the San Diego District Attorney, they might listen to people from out of state, but ultimately–it is their constituency which will have the most power, and why residents are urged to use a site such as this, which confirms that the crime occurred within San Diego city limits. This would determine if San Diego City Police are sent out, or Sheriffs. The people with whom I have spoken are always Sheriff’s, because HiC was not within city limits. https://www.sandiego.gov/police/crimereports/startaccess
I did forget to mention one small item when it comes to us being notified when things are finally approaching its close.
As for the IRS and Franchise tax Board information, as I have stated before, there will be no notification to anyone who filed complaints, –residents of Valley Center are likely to catch a glimpse of any tax liens/levies filed against her when they place a small notice in the classified section of the local newspapers.
For those of us who have been in actual communication with agencies such as the CVMB , however (and I do mean actual communication, where phone calls are placed to you regarding your complaints) then their actual policy and procedure is to notify the person of the status of their complaint when it goes for filing. (I *believe* it is when action is being taken, rather than when the outcome is determined) The agency is then supposed to notify you that it is moving forward–so take heart, you should still be among the first to know! The last time I spoke with them was approximately a month and a half ago, so the information is still current and ongoing, and I have calls out to some other agencies today, to verify whether or not they have received all of the complaints regarding the newest circumstances of eviction, taking the horses and charitable assets and attempting to sell/selling things privately. That agency will never release information but it will be worthwhile to verify that the newest circumstance and complaints are being received. I live in hope that this case can be moved up the queue with the current publicity, and in an attempt to stop her from benefiting off of the stolen assets.
You go! I hope things get bumped up a notch!
Your dedication may well shorten the period that the horse hoarding is able to continue. Even if it is on a smaller scale, for the moment. 🙂
MHinTexas, you raised up a REALLY great point, and throughout the night, I determined that your question is so valid that it deserves a deeper explanation for people needing to understand in the future. (Please note that my vision isn’t really great this morning so typos might abound and I am going to be offline for a few days after today, so please don’t think–if further questions are raised–that I am ignoring you.) I’d like this information to be in this thread that in the hopes, it can answer questions people might have without looking all over the place.
As I quoted above, charities are accountable to the public, as well as their donors. that is why I scoff at people like Michelle who instantly scream “haters!” and “you don’t have any right to ask me that question because you don’t donate,” and all of the other stuff that we see people screaming. (Take note: When rescues are screaming that and pushing that scenario, it is an automatic red flag right there. No reputable charity, doing things according to their laws and by laws, are going to have a problem with anyone asking questions. Key words as seen on AG/SOS websites is “transparency and accountability.” and what that means is that questions, etc are asked and answered with respect regarding funding, donations/expenses, etc. The truth is the truth and the answers will never vary on the part of the charity. It’s when the untruths are leaking out that questions get answered with different answers at different times. Watch Love My Horse, Inc, Strawberry Mountain Mustangs, The Golden Carrot, Falcon Ridge, etc–if questions are asked respectfully, none of them have issues with answering. Not one. Most will go one step further and show receipts. However, those people forget that they ARE accountable to the general public, as well as their donors.
Because many, if not all, charities use social media for fundraising, etc anyone–even non donors– can send in a complaint. They are soliciting all from all over the world, therefore the world itself is entitled to ask questions, even to the authorities. (We have covered multiple times what sort of information is looking for in order to catch their interest.) However, what IS going to bring in home and potentially stand more of a chance for prosecution is from the donors in their state. Does that clarification make sense?
Like this, for example: I didn’t support HiCaliber with substantial monetary donations, I simply trusted that they were doing the right thing, congratulated Romney when her position became paid, wrote a letter telling Michelle (Lord I was sick to my stomach when i realized that she was lying) how awesome I thought it was that she was achieving great heights with a TBI (I did neuro/trauma for two years as a nurse for several years, so I am well acquainted with the battle that victims fight to get well) etc and didn’t look again until all of a sudden I saw many, many people begin throwing up questions all over my feed. A few people sent me to Shed, whom I had read for a few years but quit when she went on hiatus. After reading the blog, I knew that Shed had valid information, but it was obvious that people had absolutely NO clue what to do when it came to getting the correct, very valid information to the right people.
Therefore, *I* sent in the information despite living on the other side of the US, but I also had what will in the end be most important of all–people living in the state, as well as the immediate area, who not only made donations of money but also physical items of value to benefit the rescue, much of which has stayed in Michelle’s hands. I even sent in a complaint to the San Diego DA office and had multiple conversations with their Fraud and Investigations Dept over the phone, but as I emphasized to them, many victims of whom I was speaking lived in San Diego and had been taken in by this rescue for thousands of dollars–I was merely trying to get the complaint started and had the victim’s information available for them to speak despite living in the Southeastern US. For anyone attempting this in the future, I truly do recommend that you have people in the area willing to speak up about their experience. As Michelle–and others–have their state of residence as California, they are duty bound to follow the rules established by the state of California, as well as federal if they wish to maintain their standing. Many people do not realize it but if they wish to block a charitable organization’s attempts to fundraise in their own state of residence (via social media, this is kind of tricky because as one AG stated, the laws have not evolved with the advent of the internet to keep up) they could actually file a suit with the AG of their own state and make it illegal for that charity to do so in regards to mailing lists, etc. I’ve been told that one such group of people did that with AC4$ in the state of North Carolina but I honestly have no clue how that would work in regards to social media, as I was not part of it so cannot comment on its veracity.
I apologize for all of the “I’s” in those statements, because I am sure others did the same. I simply wanted to show how someone living on the other side of the US could be the one to help get the ball rolling on these issues, but the true hammer will come from those people covered in their jurisdiction in both San Diego and California who were willing to step up and speak out and will undoubtedly be called upon in the future.
Please note that one question will always be asked of you when sending in a complaint to authorities dealing with monetary issues, which is “did you donate?” I have sent in small sums of money in order to be able to answer that question in the affirmative, and also because above all, a charity IS responsible to its donors so that if I made a request for information, etc the charity should have been duty bound to answer it, such as requesting their paperwork. Small sums of 2.00 still count as donations for that purpose, even if you are not likely to be called upon!
Thank you for asking such a great question, and I hope this response answered it.
Methinks he should do some research before posting things like this. https://frankreport.com/2019/01/10/laura-bell-knutilla-and-hicaliber-killed-over-200-healthy-horses-while-her-cult-like-followers-enabled-her/?fbclid=IwAR2FjX6pf5idu2dn9TEUMq9R6Z53pMv6TVPKp2-3G9sfGsCAECTepEKwygo
I don’t really understand that point of any of this beyond picking the bones off a carcass. It’s rather late to the party at this point.