FILE – In this Monday, June 30, 2014, file photo, customers walk to a Hobby Lobby store in Oklahoma City. A Hobby Lobby spokesman told The Associated Press on May 10, 2017, that a report stating the company was considering going out of business is not true. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — After reports surfaced that Hobby Lobby reopened their stores across the state of Ohio despite the state’s ongoing stay at home order, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sent them a cease and desist letter.

“Hobby Lobby properly closed its stores during Ohio’s stay-home order. Now they’re open again — what’s changed?” Yost questioned in a tweet Wednesday afternoon. “Neither the order, nor the seriousness of the health threat, for sure. I sent a cease & desist letter to their general counsel.”

Hobby Lobby properly closed its stores during Ohio’s stay-home order.



Now they’re open again — what’s changed? Neither the order, nor the seriousness of the health threat, for sure.



I sent a cease & desist letter to their general counsel. https://t.co/HVqDhFfhqo — Dave Yost (@Yost4Ohio) April 1, 2020

The cease and desist letter says, in part:

It does not appear that Hobby Lobby meets the criteria outlined in the Director’s order. On behalf of the Department of Health, you are ordered to immediately cease and desist operations. If you do not immediately comply with the order, the Attorney General’s Office may take all appropriate measures. If you believe that your business meets the terms of the Director Acton’s order, please clarify the basis for your assertion within 24 hours. Note that a violation of a director’s order during a pandemic may be punished criminally as seconddegree misdemeanor or enforced by civil injunction pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Section 3701.352 and RC 3701.99(C

Just a few hours later, Yost announced Hobby Lobby will close all stores in Ohio on Wednesday night to comply with the cease and desist order.

I received a phone call within the hour from the general counsel of Hobby Lobby, informing us they were closing their stores tonight in Ohio in compliance with our cease-and-desist letter. https://t.co/PLf9iIA8pH — Dave Yost (@Yost4Ohio) April 1, 2020