State Claims Woman Preys Upon Patriotism

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CN) - An Ohio woman uses a bogus, patriotic-sounding "charity" - the American Heroes Alliance - to defraud relatives of soldiers on active duty, the Ohio attorney general says in a 21-count complaint.

Ohio sued Rebecca Drobnick, of Columbus, her adult children Timothy and Mindy Drobnick, and her "American Heroes Alliance," in Franklin County Court.

Rebecca Drobnick bilked a single contributor of $50,000, and got at least two pickup trucks out of it, Attorney General Mike DeWine says in the complaint.

In fact, DeWine says, the trucks are still parked in her driveway, "despite several requests from Operation Homefront ... [that] they be turned over."

Rebecca Drobnick founded the Ohio chapter of Operation Homefront, a national organization with a "charitable purpose to provide 'emergency and morale assistance for our troops, the families they leave behind and for wounded warriors when they return home,'" the state says in the complaint.

But Operation Homefront revoked her charter after Drobnick "did not use all the assets ... to fulfill the organization's charitable purpose," instead using the assets for herself and "to pay the personal expenses of her two children," according to the complaint.

Drobnick also took donations from elderly people, the attorney general says. She is accused of multiple counts of failing to register the charity, failing to respond to the state, breach of fiduciary duties, fraud, conversion, unjust enrichment, deceptive trade, failing to cooperate with an investigation, and being a nuisance.DeWine seeks a permanent injunction, restitution, punitive damages and fines and creation of a charitable trust to oversee distribution of the assets to reputable charities.

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