CNN’s Drew Griffin reports on an alleged scammer turning a profit on a fund established in Nashville, TN intended for Newtown victims.
Ryan Graney explains how she figured out that personal items were being purchased with the money. Graney took down all of the websites when she realized suspicious activity was happening and she approached Robbie Bruce. Graney noticed that $1,200 was withdrawn from the PayPal account associated with the 26.4.26 Foundation. She also noticed that Robbie Bruce had posted a picture of a paddle board on his truck online. Robbie Bruce ignored Graney when she approached him about the suspicious activity.
Complaints have been filed against Robbie Bruce, a personal trainer, with the FBI and the Tennessee state attorney general’s office following his apparent disappearance. About $73,000, including money that was supposedly raised for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing was discovered missing before Ryan Graney shut down websites associated with the charity.
Before you do your run this weekend you should know what happened to 264626 [sic] and why it is no longer around.
Due to the founders transgressions and misconduct we were forced to end all ability for 26.4.26 to collect money. Especially after it was revealed that foundation money was spent on personal items.
In total 26.4.26 raised $103,000, of which only $30,000 was handed out. The money that was raised for Boston is included in the $103,000 total but we are not aware if that money was delivered or not.
When asked about the state of the bank account a straight answer was never given and to this day, we have not seen the bank account.
We are saddened to see this great movement come to such a crumbling and embarrassing end. We fought so hard to do good and in the end 26.4.26 was taken advantage of and for that we are sorry.
26.4.26 Facebook post on December 20, 2013
Prior to the missing $73,000, the 26.4.26 organization did raise $30,000 by holding a 26-mile fundraiser — one for each of the victims of the December 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary. The $30,000 was already presented to the Newtown Youth Academy in January 2013.
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