Tea Party groups stole charitable donations meant for US soldiers serving overseas

A new report claims that a charity that claimed to support the troops actually misled donors about their activities and instead used the money to support the political activities of Tea Party-affiliated political groups.

The report was created by ProPublica and published in The Daily Beast.

In one incident, the organization, Move America Forward, solicited donations for 800 Marines serving in Afghanistan. Five weeks after the solicitation, the group touted its success in sending the care packages to the troops in Afghanistan. The only problem, the troops were actually stationed in Okinawa, Japan.

The group even claimed to have a relationship with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the nation's largest military hospital. The Defense Department says no such relationship ever existed.

From 2008-2012, the group raised $7.8 million. Most of the money came from donations of $24.99 that Move America Forward said would be used to create and send care packages. Other charities that support U.S. troops abroad report making and sending such packages for around $10 less.

The report found that when it came to soliciting donations, Move America Forward was actually stealing material from other charities. The group would take the images and testimonials of soldiers provided to other charities, and pass them off as their own when they would solicit donations. Some of the images were just randomly taken from the social sites Flickr and Pinterest.

Even when images were actually taken by Move America Forward, the group lied about their location. In one incident, the group claimed a group of soldiers pictured in promotional material was in Afghanistan, when in reality it was in Iraq.

In another incident, Move America Forward used the story of former Marine Larry Draughn, who lost his legs in Afghanistan. Move America Forward used a story about him helping stranded motorists during an Ohio snowstorm to solicit donations, "for troops like Larry." Draughn was never contacted for permission to his story in this way, and never received any goods from Move America Forward.

Perhaps most damning, at least $2.3 million dollars in donations were diverted to a political consultancy group run by the founder of Move America Forward, Sal Russo. Some payments went directly to Russo himself. Russo is the force behind the Tea Party Express PAC. The consultancy he established, and which also received funds from Move America Forward, supports Tea Party causes and candidates as well.