Charity's fundraising creating a dispute

A campaign to raise $300,000 leads to questions from the police chief, a stack of letters and memos, and the threat of a lawsuit.

By KATHERINE GAZELLA

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 24, 2000

TARPON SPRINGS -- The trouble started with a request for land-clearing equipment and cash donations to build an outreach center.

The Rev. James Warren wanted to build the Peter Assimack Love Center in honor of a friend who died of cancer in 1996. His group, Care to Share, needed $300,000 and a lot of volunteers to make the dream a reality: a building off Martin Luther King Jr. Drive that would serve drug addicts, abused women and homeless people.

"Work is love made visible," his fliers said.

Warren's effort to raise money didn't sit well with Mark LeCouris, police chief of Tarpon Springs. During meetings, he told city staffers not to have anything to do with Warren or Care to Share until some questions about the group's past fundraising were answered.

In letters to Warren in February and March, LeCouris said there were "serious concerns" within the community about the $300,000 Love Center project, and he asked for information about past donations to the group. Copies of the letters were sent to city officials.

What followed was an exchange of letters and memos that has caused a stir at City Hall and the Police Department, and in the life of James Warren. Warren's attorneys have threatened libel and slander lawsuits against LeCouris and the city, and numerous city officials have been brought into the dispute through an increasingly hefty stack of paperwork.

LeCouris and the city attorney maintain that the police chief acted appropriately when he raised questions about the group's fundraising. At the time of the first memos and letters, they say, Warren had not registered with the county to become a charitable solicitor.

Now that Warren is registered as a charitable solicitor, City Attorney John Hubbard said, the city doesn't have a problem with Warren's fundraising -- even though city officials still know little about Warren's past fundraising.

"As far as the city is concerned, as long as Mr. Warren follows the laws, we have no reason to question his activities," Hubbard said.

LeCouris sees it differently. He says Warren still needs to provide the city with some information about money raised in the past.

"I'm still waiting for some answers. I haven't received anything," LeCouris said.

LeCouris and Hubbard also differ about whether there is a police investigation of Warren. Hubbard says he doesn't know of one. LeCouris is more equivocal.

"I can't say if there is or isn't," he said.

Warren doesn't understand why the chief of police would concern himself with a group that, by all accounts, has raised little money in the past. He feels the chief's comments have caused long-term harm to his reputation in the community.

"It's stopping me from helping people," Warren said.

For most of its existence, Care to Share has had only a few fundraisers designed to help a small number of people, according to its board members.

When asked whether he has ever done anything inappropriate with the money, Warren replies: "What money?"

Warren, 39, went to school in Tarpon Springs. He was a pastor in Georgia before turning his attention to Care to Share, which was incorporated in 1995, corporate records show.

Since Peter Assimack's death, Care to Share has been dormant, said Tommy Assimack, Peter's father and currently one of the group's board members. Other board members listed on the group's letterhead include actor Katy Duberstein, business manager Bill Cochran, real estate broker Linda Hourdas, restaurateur Louis Pappas and Bob Stansell of Stansell Trucking.

In recent years, the group has collected food and money for hurricane victims and for a man injured in a car accident, according to Tommy Assimack, the group's treasurer.

A financial report filed with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says the group raised $2,840 in 1999, and had total revenue of $4,505. Assimack didn't say how much the group has raised in other years.

"We haven't done much," Assimack said. With the Love Center, he said, "we wanted to get going again."

Assimack said he doesn't see a need to turn over financial information to the city. As a private organization, Care to Share is not bound by public records laws.

LeCouris "doesn't have the authority to ask for the information he's asking for without an investigation. There's nothing illegal going on," Assimack said.

Warren said the request for financial information is inappropriate and baseless.

"Mark LeCouris makes it look like we have a lot of money," he said. "I have $200 in the bank."

He said LeCouris' statements about Care to Share have caused great turmoil in his life.

"I'm scared," he said. "I want to put all this behind me. All the bickering."

City officials say it was appropriate for LeCouris to raise questions about Care to Share's fundraising, particularly because of the sum of money Warren wanted to collect.

Anybody who wanted to raise $300,000 might catch the city's attention, said Hubbard -- especially if that group didn't want to hand over its financial information.

"I think it's a legitimate question to say, "What money have you raised and what have you done with the money?' " Hubbard said. "All (LeCouris) ever asked for was an explanation for a use of the money. . . . These are legitimate police concerns."

In his letters and memos, LeCouris said Warren's fundraising has raised questions within the community. Questions from whom? LeCouris won't say.

Because of the threat of litigation, he said, he can't discuss such details.

Through the years, Warren has associated with some prominent people: Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe spoke at a Care to Share fundraiser late last year, Gov. Jeb Bush wrote a letter wishing him luck with the Love Center and state Rep. Gus Bilirakis sent a letter to Bush, asking that Warren be recognized as a Point of Light.

"Each one who offers support and assistance in this endeavor is to be applauded," Bush's letter said of the Love Center.

"I hope you will agree that Reverend Warren is a truly remarkable man, and well-deserving of this prestigious award," Bilirakis' letter said.

People involved with Care to Share speak highly of Warren, who buys and sells real estate to earn a living. Once he focuses on helping somebody, there's no stopping him, said his friend Claudia Duberstein.

The Love Center, she said, "is all he thinks about. . . . If it's an obsession, it's a good obsession."

Those who have benefited from Warren's generosity say he has bent over backward to help them. Tammy Gordon was just an acquaintance of Warren when he recently stepped in to help the family.

Gordon's 14-year-old daughter, Antoinette, had surgery to remove a brain tumor last week. Care to Share gave the family a vehicle, though it didn't run very well, she said. Warren also gained media attention in hopes of raising money for the girl.

It is difficult to say whether LeCouris' questions about Care to Share have had any effect. Whatever the reason, though, the Love Center project is off to a slow start.

Few people have shown up to help clear the property, Warren said. Late in March, a couple sent a letter to Warren saying they wanted to donate $200,000 to him, but they wouldn't until "the slanderous allegations made by (LeCouris) are cleared."

City officials point out that Warren has received assistance from the city, even in the midst of the Police Department's questions about Care to Share. A few weeks ago, the department paid an officer to go to a Care to Share march. Warren had requested a police presence for public safety.

In a note about the event, LeCouris wrote that an officer worked four hours, even though Warren "did not go through the proper process" for hiring an officer.

Because he and the city are under threat of litigation, LeCouris directed most questions to the city attorney. His boss, City Manager Ellen Posivach, also directed questions to Hubbard.

LeCouris said that he still wants his questions answered. But he acknowledges that Care to Share is free to raise money in Tarpon Springs, now that the group has registered with the county and state.

"If people want to give them money without answers to those questions . . . there's nothing I can do about it," LeCouris said.

-- Katherine Gazella covers Tarpon Springs for the Times. She can be reached at (727) 445-4182.

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