CLEVELAND, OH (WKBN) – Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says a new lawsuit is accusing a children’s charity of allegedly misleading Ohio donors regarding how and where their money is spent.

The lawsuit is also against the charity’s operators – Thomas Duffy and Charles Hitzel, both of Ashtabula – and its fundraiser.

According to the lawsuit, Cops for Kids, Inc. (also known as Ohio Cops for Kids), collected over $4.2 million in donations from Ohio residents between 2005 and 2015 but spent less than two percent of it on charitable programming.

Instead, they paid the vast majority – over $3.34 million – to its for-profit solicitor, Telcom Enterprises, and an additional $802,662 on salaries and overhead.

“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,” DeWine said.

According to a press release, Cops for Kids claims its mission is to improve the quality of life for Ohio youth through educational and recreational activities, working hand-in-hand with law enforcement.

Since its incorporation in 2004, Cops for Kids has solicited donations from residents in every Ohio county through Telcom Enterprises.

Although Cops for Kids claims to provide significant programming in 75 of Ohio’s 88 counties, investigators found that the group’s limited charitable programming primarily involved sending boxes of a few teddy bears to police departments, writing checks to other agencies and funding some $500 college scholarships issued by other organizations.

In the lawsuit, DeWine seeks to prohibit Cops for Kids from soliciting for charity in Ohio and prohibiting Duffy and Hitzel from incorporating or working for a nonprofit in Ohio.

The lawsuit also seeks an order to dissolve Cops for Kids and distribute its assets to other charities, and an order for Telcom to withdraw from all solicitations in Ohio.

To avoid this happening to you, DeWine suggests to develop a giving plan and only donate to the charities you have fully researched and feel comfortable with. His office also offers a database search on its website so you can search for your charity to see if it is registered with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.