Every episode of LA Fire & Rescue, a short-lived NBC docuseries from 2023, ended the same way.
After watching Los Angeles County firefighters perform heroic rescues, viewers were asked to donate to a nonprofit that raised money for the county fire department.
But some of the money earned by the Los Angeles County Fire Department Foundation through the show and other fundraising efforts never reached the department, attorneys representing the county government allege.
The county has sued the foundation, accusing it of using the fire department’s logo and its life-saving work to raise donations and then operating a personal “secret fund.” The questionable spending, according to the county, included $232,500 paid to the foundation’s president, Stacy Mungo Flanigan, since last year.
The foundation has denied any wrongdoing and said all donations benefited Southern California firefighters and that more than $5 million went to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Mungo Flanigan's attorney said the payments to his client included a bonus for successful fundraising efforts.
Since then-Fire Chief Daryl Osby started the foundation in 2015, the county has allowed it to raise money using the fire department’s logo with the understanding that the funds would be spent on emergency services, according to legal documents filed by county attorneys.
Lawyers gathered in the judge's chambers Friday afternoon to try to resolve a fierce, months-long legal battle between the county and Osby, who still heads the foundation.
Each side accuses the other of wasting valuable resources intended for first responders.
“Donors and the county deserve to know where those funds went,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who first called for a investigation at the foundation last year.
Osby, who retired in 2022 after making history as the department's first Black fire chief, said his former employer is wasting his time and money.
“I can only imagine the substantial amount of taxpayer funds earmarked for public safety that the Los Angeles Fire Department and Los Angeles County have spent on this lawsuit,” Osby said in a statement.
County attorneys told the judge Friday that before considering a settlement, they want an auditor to review more bank records to account for all donations.
From 2019 to 2022, the foundation received an average of $1.9 million a year in “donations, grants and contributions,” according to court documents.
The foundation has already turned over thousands of pages of documents to the county through the lawsuit and is prepared to hand over to the county the roughly $2 million remaining 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 documents: one for $75,000 and another for $82,500.
Those bonuses were tied to his job 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 Los Angeles County Fire Department, receiving compensation last year of about $254,000, according to salary records.
According to the foundation’s bylaws, it can provide “reasonable” financial compensation to its president. Tax returns show Mungo Flanigan received $75,000 from the foundation in 2022 and nothing in 2021.
“The board had many reasons why she deserved the money, considering she worked 15 hours a day and made millions of dollars,” said Carol Gillam, Mungo Flanigan’s attorney. “She was extraordinarily successful in getting that money.”
Since April, Mungo Flanigan has received monthly payments of $12,500 from the foundation “to help respond to the lawsuit,” according to the filing.
County attorneys have also questioned the nearly $900,000 a vendor received from the foundation, paid in nearly 50 checks, “many of which contained no note explaining the reasons.”
The seller, FireRescueStuff, purchased merchandise — hoodies, hats, pins — that the foundation then sold on its online store, according to the foundation's attorneys.
Jon Schultz, owner of FireRescueStuff, 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 shipping thousands of uniforms for its junior lifeguard program.
It was all done, he said, in collaboration with the fire department. He said most of the checks highlighted by county attorneys were reimbursements from the foundation.
“I wouldn't be selling trinkets on a website if I had 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 the foundation to fund programs and equipment that were not within the department's budget. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has a similar relationship with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Foundation, which raises money “to assist the LASD,” according to its website.
The fire foundation received mail at a fire department building. Its web URL was supportlacountyfire.com. And it was allowed to raise funds using the fire department logo, placing it on products in its online store.
The county said it allowed this under the assumption that “every dollar” raised by the foundation would be spent on firefighters.
In a July statement, Osby said it was “well known” that the foundation supported not only the fire department but also organizations “that uplifted the community,” including associations of black and women firefighters.
Osby wrote that “the relationship with the Foundation changed dramatically” when Anthony Marrone became permanent chairman in February 2023 and told Osby he was not interested in taking over as chairman of the foundation.
Marrone said in a statement that he “did not see the need” to intervene.
“I thought it was best for the nonprofit to have an independent board,” she said. “But I have always supported the Fire Foundation and appreciated all the fundraising it did on behalf of the Fire District.”
Last year, the board of supervisors learned that the foundation had been deemed “in default” by the California Department of Justice, which regulates charities, due to a lack of documentation. The designation meant the group was prohibited from fundraising.
Mungo Flanigan previously told The Times that he had no idea about the missing paperwork and submitted it as soon as he learned of the problem.
The county sent a cease-and-desist letter warning the foundation to stop using the county logo, and then filed a lawsuit in February, arguing the foundation was willing to fork over $3 million intended for firefighters.
At the county's request, a judge agreed to freeze most of the foundation's money, except for what was needed to pay legal fees, and to liquidate it. The foundation no longer actively solicits donations on its website.
