Team 4 Investigates: Pa. Orders Military Charity To Stop CollectingState Calls Direct2Troops BogusPOSTED: 4:15 pm EDT September 8,
2009 PITTSBURGH -- A local charity said it helps send packages to soldiers overseas.But the state of Pennsylvania said the charity is bogus and it's been ordered to stop doing business here.Team 4 investigator Paul Van Osdol's took a closer look at the situation.What follows is a transcript of Van Osdol's report:
There are dozens of legitimate charities that help people send packages to troops overseas. But state officials say Direct2Troops, based in Wexford, is not one of them.From its website, Direct2Troops appears legitimate. Earnest looking staff people, smiling soldiers, multiple testimonials about their works.The website says Direct2Troops recruits volunteers to ship packages to troops overseas.But the top charities regulator in Pennsylvania says she could find no evidence that the group was doing anything like that.Tracy McCurdy, PA Department of State: "Basically it just appeared that this organization didn't exist."That's what Team 4 found when we went to the purported home office for Direct 2 Troops.The website for Direct2Troops says its office is located in this Wexford office building in suite 132. But there's only one problem -- this building doesn't have a suite 132. And the building manager tells me she's never even heard of Direct2Troops.The group also says it has an office in Pittsburgh. But the address it uses, 888 Frankstown Avenue, does not exist.Team 4 tried to contact the charity's founders, identified on the website as Steve Gove and his wife Jes. But no one returned our calls or emails. And public records show no one by those names anywhere in Western Pennsylvania.Tracy McCurdy, PA Department of State: "The people, if you look at their photographs, apparently exist. But we don't know what their names are because their names changed."The cease and desist order filed by the state identifies the group's leaders as Michael Move, a.k.a. Steve Gove and Amanda Move a.k.a. Jes Gove a.k.a. Christi Gove.And then there are the testimonials. Team 4 found the woman who allegedly wrote this, "I have one thing to say -- Thank you."Cassandra Pridemore's husband says that message was posted more than two years ago on another website and it was meant, not for Direct2Troops, but for her brother who's in the Air Force reserves.Tracy McCurdy, PA Department of State: "I think it just fits in with the whole pattern of what they're doing. They're building up a website designed to enlist people to help them apparently for less than legitimate purposes." So let's say you want to find a legitimate charity to send a care package to the troops overseas.First check with the Department of State's Bureau of Charitable Organizations to see if the charity is registered.Also, the military has a list of dozens of charities that it has vetted. To see the list, visit http://www.ourmilitary.mil/send_packages.shtml#.The Direct2Troops website is still up but if it doesn't come down soon the state will seek a court injunction.
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