Bogus Charity Stole $131,000 Meant for Toxic Rail Derailment, Ohio Lawsuit Alleges

An organization raked in $141,000 but “pocketed” nearly all of that amount instead of using it to help East Palestine, Ohio, residents struggling with toxic fumes and contaminated water after a train derailment and fire, the state’s top law official says.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a lawsuit alleging that a Leetonia, Ohio, man named Mike Peppel has solicited donations to a nonprofit organization that he founded last month but diverted the money away from its intended purpose.
Ohio Attorney General David Yost (Courtesy of ohioattorneygeneral.gov)
Peppel represented that donations to his Ohio Clean Water Fund would be used “to provide residents with emergency aid and bottled water,” Yost said in an April 11 news release….}