I-Team: Local charity using felons to collect donations

RUSKIN, Fla. - In these tough economic times, many good charities are struggling to help the needy because fewer people are in position to give.

But several Tampa Bay area companies are questioning whether it's a good idea to give at all because of who one local organization is sending up to pick up the donations.

Chuck Bothe, owner of Seffner Rock and Gravel, served in Vietnam and has never forgotten his fellow vets.

"Being a veteran I feel obligated.  I'm more fortunate than some of them.  Sure, I think I should donate," Bothe said.

But after receiving an appeal over the phone from a 'Colonel Hall' with the 'Veterans Care Program,' he and his daughter Denise were alarmed about who showed up a few weeks ago to pick up a $100 check:  Two men in a beat-up Cadillac.

"Is this the man who came to your business?”  We asked Bothe while showing him mug shot photos.  “Yes sir, it is,” he replied.

'Colonel Hall,' Bothe said, admitted his real name is Charles Bagley.  When his daughter did a quick Google search, she discovered -- and court records confirm -- Bagley was convicted of impersonating a police officer and fraud in a 1998 St. Petersburg charity scam.

"He was trying to rush us.  Telling us to hurry up, that he had 14 more stops to make between here and Plant City to take donations,” Denise Whittaker told the I-Team.

And waiting in the car was Robert Gonyo, convicted on federal mail fraud charges connected to a 2003 scam at another charity.

"I do have some convictions, that is true," Gonyo said.

Bothe kicked the two men off the property.  But the I-Team tracked Gonyo back to the New Port Richey headquarters of the Veterans Care Program, which happens to be an apartment.

"If you were convicted of these types of crimes, why would you go back into a similar business?”  We asked Gonyo.   “I didn't know about that law,” he told the I-Team.

That law requires charities to disclose to the state whether any employees have been convicted of a felony involving fraud, theft, larceny or any crime arising from raising money for a charity.

"I have provided for children in shelters and struggling families for 15 years," said Kathy Klotz.

Since the mid-90's, Kathy Klotz has run the Veterans Care program and five other programs the two men were collecting for out of her apartment.  According to registration documents she filed with the state, last year, about half of the nearly $50,000 she took in went to program services.

"Then why would you associate with someone like Mr. Gonyo who has serious felonies and convictions while raising money supposedly for charitable purposes? Doesn't that kind of raise a question?" We asked.

"I understand that and I see where you are coming from,” Klotz told us.

In a statement to the I-Team, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services wrote, "Charities definitely have a responsibility to report who is a paid employee and who may be soliciting contributions on their behalf."

And here's another thing Ms. Klotz doesn't disclose to donors. Donations are not tax-deductible.

"Are you under the impression any of these charities are tax deductible?” We asked businesswoman Sharrie Stewart.  “Yes,” she told us.  They are not.

Sharrie Stewart has given repeatedly to what she believed were tax-deductible programs run by Klotz.

"Shame on me, Oh, I should have checked into it," Stewart says.

Klotz said if she disclosed the fact that donations are not tax deductible (because her organization is not a 501c3), no one would donate.

Despite all of this, Kevin Jackson, chief investigator for Hillsborough County's Consumer Protection Agency doesn't expect the state will do much of anything.

"Charities are not regulated at the federal level and most agencies don't regulate them. There is no real active watchdog," Jackson tells the I-Team.

In some ways, Kathy Klotz is in the dark too.  She claims to be unaware Charles Bagley, alias "Colonel Hall," was even working for her.

"Charles Bagley doesn't have anything to do with our organization," Klotz said.

But that's not what the people at Ruskin’s Oxford-Council agricultural supply say.

"How does he identify himself?” We asked.  “As 'the colonel,'" said Jason Simmons.

We showed Bagley and Gonyo's mugshots to Simmons and Diane Peebles. 

"Does it concern you the people coming here to pick up your money are convicted felons?"  We asked.  "Yeah. I'm really angry, and I would like to punch his lights out,” Peebles told us.

A state spokesman says the charity will be contacted to find out why Bagley and Gonyo are not listed on its registration papers.

The spokesman went on to say state oversight is only as good as the information charities voluntarily give.