Where did Millions Raised to Help Los Angeles County Firefighters Go?

LOS ANGELES — Every episode of "LA Fire & Rescue," a short-lived 2023 NBC docuseries, ended the same way.

After watching L.A. County firefighters pull off heroic rescues, viewers were asked to donate to a nonprofit that raised money for the county fire department.

But some of the money earned by the Los Angeles County Fire Department Foundation through the show and other fundraising efforts never reached the department, attorneys representing the county government allege.

The county has sued the foundation, accusing it of using the fire department's logo and lifesaving work to collect donations and then operating a personal "slush fund." The questionable spending, according to the county, included $232,500 paid to the foundation's president, Stacy Mungo Flanigan, since last year.

The foundation has denied any wrongdoing, asserting that all donations benefited firefighters across Southern California, with more than $5 million going toward the L.A. County Fire Department.

Mungo Flanigan's attorney said the payments to her client included a bonus for successful fundraising efforts.

Since then-Fire Chief Daryl Osby started the foundation in 2015, the county has allowed it to raise money using the fire department logo with the understanding that the funds would be spent on first responders, according to legal filings by county attorneys.

Attorneys met in a judge's chambers Friday afternoon to try to settle a fierce months-long legal battle that has pitted the county against Osby, who still chairs the foundation.

Each side accuses the other of squandering precious resources meant for first responders.

"The donors and the County deserve to know where those funds went," said L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who first called for an investigation into the foundation last year.

Osby, who retired in 2022 after making history as the department's first Black fire chief, said his former employer is wasting its time and money.

"I can only imagine the substantial taxpayer funds that were meant for public safety that the fire department and Los Angeles County has spent on this lawsuit," Osby said in a statement.

County attorneys told the judge on Friday that before considering a settlement, they want an auditor to review more bank records to account for all the donations.

From 2019 to 2022, the foundation received an average of $1.9 million a year in "gifts, grants and contributions," according to court filings.

The foundation has already turned over thousands of pages of documents to the county through the lawsuit and is willing to give the county the roughly $2 million left in its bank account, its lawyers said.

Mungo Flanigan received two bonuses from the foundation this year, according to court filings — one for $75,000 and one for $82,500.

Those bonuses were tied to her work performance in 2021 and 2022 but weren't paid out until recently, foundation lawyers said.

Mungo Flanigan also works in administrative services for the L.A. County Fire Department, receiving compensation last year of about $254,000, according to salary records.

The foundation can give "reasonable" financial compensation to its president, according to foundation bylaws. Tax filings show that Mungo Flanigan received $75,000 from the foundation in 2022 and nothing in 2021.

"The board had a lot of reasons why she deserved the money, considering she was working 15 hours a day and bringing in millions of dollars," said Carol Gillam, Mungo Flanigan's attorney. "She was extraordinarily successful at bringing this money in."

Since April, Mungo Flanigan has received monthly $12,500 payments from the foundation "to assist in responding to the lawsuit," according to filings.

County attorneys have also questioned the nearly $900,000 a vendor received from the foundation, paid out in nearly 50 checks, "many of which contained no memo explaining the reasons."

The vendor, FireRescueStuff, purchased merchandise — hoodies, hats, pins — that the foundation then sold in its online store, according to foundation attorneys.

FireRescueStuff's owner, Jon Schultz, told The Times that he started the business in 2022 at the request of both the foundation and the fire department. He said the department told him it needed help shipping thousands of uniforms for its junior lifeguard program.

Everything was done, he said, in partnership with the fire department. He said most of the checks highlighted by county lawyers were reimbursements from the foundation.

"I wouldn't be selling trinkets on a website if I had made $900,000," he said.

Osby created the foundation to pay for programs and equipment that weren't within the department's budget. The L.A. County Sheriff's Department has a similar relationship with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Foundation, which takes in money "to assist the LASD," according to its website.

The fire foundation received mail at a fire department building. Its web URL was supportlacountyfire.com. And it was allowed to fundraise using the fire department's logo, plastering it on products in its online store.

The county said it allowed this under the assumption that "every dollar" raised by the foundation would be spent on firefighters.

In a July declaration, Osby said it was "well known" that the foundation supported not only the fire department but organizations "that lifted up the community," including associations for Black and female firefighters.

Osby wrote that "the relationship with the Foundation changed dramatically" when Anthony Marrone became permanent chief in February 2023 and told Osby he was not interested in taking over as chair of the foundation.

Marrone said in a statement he "didn't see the need" to step in.

"I thought it was best for the nonprofit to have an independent board," he said. "But I have always supported the Fire Foundation and appreciated all the fundraising it did on the Fire District's behalf."

Last year, the board of supervisors learned that the foundation had gone into "delinquent" status with the California Department of Justice, which regulates charities, due to missing paperwork. The designation meant the group was barred from fundraising.

Mungo Flanigan previously told The Times that she had no idea about the missing paperwork and filed it as soon as she learned of the problem.

The county sent a cease-and-desist letter warning the foundation to stop using the county logo, then sued in February, arguing that the foundation was poised to disburse $3 million meant for firefighters.

At the county's request, a judge agreed to freeze most of the foundation's money, except for what it needed to pay legal fees, and wind the foundation down. The foundation is no longer actively soliciting donations on its website.

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