DeWine: 'Sham charity' with Blue Ash address raised millions, did almost nothing

Ohio-based Cops for Kids is a "sham charity" that spent most of the millions of dollars it raised to pay a company that solicited donations, court documents say.

According to Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, the organization collected more than $4.2 million over a decade – but spent less than 2 percent of that money on charitable programming.

“Well-meaning Ohioans gave to Cops for Kids believing their dollars would help Ohio children or support local law enforcement. Instead, an overwhelming percentage of donations were kept by the group’s for-profit fundraiser or the men who operated it,” DeWine said in a statement. “We believe Cops for Kids is a sham operation that has defrauded Ohioans out of millions of dollars while performing almost no legitimate charitable work.”

From 2005 through 2015, court documents say, Cops for Kids paid $3.34 million – nearly 80 percent of the donations collected – to Telecom Enterprises of Ohio, a for-profit solicitor that the documents say "routinely conducts business in Ohio."

An additional $802,662 was spent on salaries and overhead during that time, according to the documents.

DeWine said investigators with his office's Charitable Law Section determined that only $73,840 was spent on charitable programming.

Officials with Telecom Enterprises could not be reached for comment. When the company registered with the DeWine's office as a professional solicitor, it listed a "phone room" in Hamilton, at 526 Main St. It is believed to be based in Alabama.

A civil lawsuit announced Wednesday alleges Telecom Enterprises and two Ashtabula men who co-founded Cops for Kids, Thomas Duffy and Chuck Hitzel, defrauded donors, misleading them into thinking contributions would go to a legitimate charity. Hitzel is a retired police chief.

The charity, also known as Ohio Cops for Kids, solicited donations from residents in every Ohio county, the lawsuit says. Its website lists an address in Blue Ash where donations can be sent.

The group’s limited charitable programming, officials said, primarily involved sending boxes of teddy bears to police departments, writing checks to other agencies, and funding a few $500 college scholarships issued by organizations including the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police.

DeWine is seeking to dissolve Cops for Kids and a court order for Telecom Enterprises to withdraw from all solicitations in Ohio. He also wants a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from soliciting for charity in the state.

Hitzel, former police chief for the North Kingsville Police Department, did not return messages seeking comment. Duffy could not be reached for comment.