Every episode of “LA Fire & Rescue,” NBC’s short-lived 2023 docuseries, ended the same way.
After watching LA County firefighters perform heroic rescues, viewers were asked to donate to a non-profit organization that raised money for the county Fire Department.
But some of the money the Los Angeles County Fire Department Foundation received through the parade and other fundraising efforts did not go to the department, attorneys representing the county government said.
The county sued the foundation, accusing it of using the Fire Department logo and lifeguard service to collect donations and using a personal “garbage bag.” The questionable spending, according to the district, includes $232,500 paid to the foundation’s president, Stacy Mungo Flanigan, from last year.
The foundation denied any wrongdoing, asserting that all donations benefited firefighters throughout Southern California, with more than $5 million going to the LA County Fire Department.
Mungo Flanigan’s lawyer said his client’s payments included a bonus for successful fundraising efforts.
Since then Fire Chief Daryl Osby started the foundation in 2015, the district has allowed it to raise money using the Fire Department logo with the understanding that the money will be used for first responders, according to legal filings by district attorneys.
Lawyers gathered in the judge’s chambers Friday afternoon to try to resolve a months-long legal dispute with Osby, who is the foundation’s chairman.
Each side accuses the other of wasting precious resources meant for first responders.
“The donors and the County should know where that money went,” said LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who initially requested that investigation at the base last year.
Osby, who retired in 2022 after making history as the department’s first black fire chief, said his former employer was wasting time and money.
“I can only think of the enormous public safety taxpayer dollars that the fire department and Los Angeles County spent on this case,” Osby said in a statement.
District attorneys told the judge Friday that before they can consider compensation, they want an auditor to review additional bank records to account for all donations.
From 2019 to 2022, the foundation received an average of $1.9 million annually in “gifts, grants and donations,” according to court documents.
The foundation has already turned over thousands of pages of documents to the district about the lawsuit and is willing to give the district about $2 million left in its bank account, its attorneys said.
Supervisor Janice Hahn called for an investigation into the foundation last year.
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
Mungo Flanigan received two bonuses from the foundation this year, according to court filings — one of $75,000 and one of $82,500.
Those bonuses were tied to his performance in 2021 and 2022 but were not paid until recently, the foundation’s lawyers said.
Mungo Flanigan also works in administrative services for the LA County Fire Department, receiving compensation last year of about $254,000, according to salary records.
A foundation can provide “reasonable” financial compensation to its president, according to the city’s bylaws. Tax filings show that Mungo Flanigan received $75,000 from the foundation in 2022 and nothing in 2021.
“The board had many reasons why he deserved the money, given that he worked 15 hours a day and brought in millions of dollars,” said Carol Gillam, Mungo Flanigan’s lawyer. “He was incredibly successful in bringing this money.”
Since April, Mungo Flanigan has received monthly payments of $12,500 from the foundation “to help answer the case,” according to the filing.
District attorneys also questioned the nearly $900,000 the vendor received from the foundation, paid in nearly 50 checks, “many of which did not have a memo explaining the reasons.”
The retailer, FireRescueStuff, bought the merchandise — hoodies, hats, pins — and the foundation sold it on its online store, according to foundation lawyers.
The owner of FireRescueStuff, 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 sending thousands of uniforms to its junior lifeguard program.
Everything has been done, he said, in cooperation with the Fire Department. He said many of the checks highlighted by district attorneys are reimbursements from the foundation.
“I wouldn’t be selling trinkets on a website if I made $900,000,” he said.
Former Fire Chief Daryl Osby, who created the foundation in 2015, called the county’s lawsuit frivolous.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Osby created a foundation to pay for programs and equipment that were not in the department’s budget. The LA County Sheriff’s Department has a similar relationship with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Foundation, which takes money to “help the LASD,” according to its website.
The fire base received an email from the Fire Department building. Its web URL was supportlacountyfire.com. And it was allowed to raise money using the Fire Department logo, plastering it on products in its online store.
The county said it allows this under the assumption that “every dollar” raised by the foundation will be used for firefighters.
In the July announcement, Osby said it was “known” that the foundation supported not only the Fire Department but organizations that “uplifted the community,” including black and women’s firefighter organizations.
Osby wrote that “the relationship with the Foundation changed dramatically” when Anthony Marrone became permanent chief in February 2023 and told Osby that he was not interested in taking over as foundation chairman.
Marrone said in a statement that he “did not see the need” to intervene.
“I thought it would be better for a non-profit organization to have an independent board,” he said. “But I have always supported the Fire Foundation and am grateful for all the fundraising it has done on behalf of the Fire District.”
Last year, the board of trustees found that the foundation had gone into “non-compliance” with the California Department of Justice, which regulates charities, due to a lack of paperwork. The nomination meant the group was prohibited from fundraising.
Mungo Flanigan previously told The Times that he was unaware of the missing documents and filed them as soon as he heard about the problem.
The county sent a cease-and-desist letter warning the foundation to stop using the county logo, then sued in February, saying the foundation was ready to shell out $3 million for firefighters.
At the county’s request, the judge agreed to freeze most of the federal money, except for what it needed to pay legal fees, and close the foundation. The foundation no longer actively solicits donations on its website.
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