Houston judge to decide fate of Texas charity
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For nearly 40 years Dolcefino Consulting President Wayne Dolcefino has used Texas law to hold charities accountable.
Soon, Harris County District Court Judge Ursula Hall will decide if Texas charities will remain accountable to those who donate to them.
The controversial ambulance service Cypress Creek EMS has filed legal action to stop the release of critical of the charity’s financial records. CCEMS is a “nonprofit charity”; yet a recent audit claims it is making millions in profits while hitting up 600,000 Harris County residents for millions in taxes.
CCEMS took the legal action even while facing criminal charges by the Harris County District Attorney for failing to turn over payroll records. ESD 11 taxpayers pay the employees, but CCEMS doesn’t even want you to know who they are.
“It is incredibly rare for a charity to be accused of a crime for hiding financial records,” says Dolcefino, “That’s because 99 percent of the time charities have complied when the DA tells them too.”
“This law is critical to accountability for charities,” says Dolcefino, “We have all seen what happens when rogue charities are left unchecked.”
CCEMS wants Judge Ursula Hall to let them hide key financial records and wants Dolcefino Consulting to pay more than $100,000 of CCEMS’s legal fees simply because they won’t turn over their records. Judge Ursula Hall could make that call in coming weeks.
“CCEMS has literally wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars that could be spent on medical supplies and drugs for sick people to keep details of their spending a secret, all while hitting taxpayers up to help subsidize 911 service,” says Dolcefino, “It would be open season if donors suddenly lost the right to examine the financial records of any Texas charity. It is the cost of avoiding taxes.”
The ambulance charity, still under investigation by the FBI for possible fraud, also doesn’t want you to see documents detailing the purchase of ambulance parts with charity money, even after Channel 2 caught a CCEMS manager running a car repair shop for cash out of the place.
Hall hasn’t set a date for the charity showdown. Stay tuned.
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