COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is suing a man accused of exploiting the East Palestine train derailment disaster with a sham charity he used to collect more than $100,000.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday, accuses Michael "Mike" Peppel of operating an "unlawful charity using a high-profile disaster to divert donations away from the intended recipients."
Fast Facts
A Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed on Feb. 3 in East Palestine, located in Northeast Ohio's Columbiana County.
The derailment released over a million gallons of hazardous materials from at least 39 railcars, with substances running into nearby Sulfur Run as well as other waterways. Since the derailment, East Palestine residents have reported feeling ill.
News 5 has been on the ground since the disaster. Click or tap here to learn more.
Red Flags
Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley started getting flooded with calls and emails after the explosive train derailment. But the messages raised red flags for executive director Michael Iberis.
"This particular website was tugging at their hearts and saying, 'look, we got this problem down here and we have created this entity to be able to help those people on the ground with water and other things — and we are partnering with Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley,'" Iberis told News 5 Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau.
But that partnership wasn’t real.
People from around the country asked Iberis and his team if...
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