ATLANTA — Just a day after a Channel 2 Action News investigation exposed serious questions about a children's care home without any foster children, the Georgia Secretary of State Charities Division has opened its own investigation into the charity.
Records show that the last foster child left the Noah's Ark Children's Care Home in March 2010, but the charity continued soliciting donations for five more years, taking in an additional $658,000 during that time.
"We have opened an investigation into this situation," Charities Division Director Ryan Germany said. "Our mission is just to protect the donors. It's very important."
Charities have specific rules for taking in money and how that money is spent.
They cannot tell the public one thing, then use the donations for something else.
"The biggest thing is using donor money for personal-type things. That's a big red flag for us, generally," Germany said.
Three former Noah's Ark employees who had access to financial records told us that they saw too much of that going on at the Animal Sanctuary and Children's Care Home.
"Literally, I freaked out. I'm like, 'Holy crap. I'm involved in a major, major scam,'" said Christy Cunningham, who worked on the charities' website.
She noticed that Noah's Ark was still soliciting and accepting donations for a children's care home, even though it no longer existed.
State records show that the Noah's Ark Children's Care Home closed in 2010 in response to financial failure. But federal tax returns show that it's brought in at least $658,000 in donations since then.
"That's a huge ethical breach. It could be a legal issue as well," said Sandra Miniutti, vice president of Charity Navigator, a watchdog website.
The website sees a number of red flags in the Noah's Ark financials.
The Children's Care Home got charity status in 1994, telling the IRS that it was a residential group home for state-confiscated children.
"I have never misspent one penny. Not one penny. And I can prove it," Noah's Ark Founder Jama Hedgecoth said.
The founder admitted that she has no foster children, but says the money has helped children.
The state is working on subpoenas for bank and credit card records, hoping to go line by line through the charities' finances.
Germany said that if the investigation uncovers criminal activity, officials will forward the case to the attorney general or local prosecutors.
"Georgians are very generous, and we want to make sure their generosity is spent in a way that they are intending it to be spent," he said.