NJ Horse Angels agrees to disband & repay misused funds

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2011:

NEWARK–The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs on March
24, 2011 announced that an entity called NJ Horse Angels and
founders Sharon Catalano-Crumb, 54, and Frank Wikoff, 55, both of
Phillipsburg, New Jersey, “will repay $57,129 in misused donations
to the Division of Consumer Affairs. The Division in turn will donate
the funds to registered non-profit horse rescue organizations.”
The amount to be repaid was found by the Charities
Registration & Investigation Section of the Division of Consumer
Affairs to have been “misappropriated by Catalano-Crumb and used by
her for trips to Atlantic City casinos, personal shopping, meals,
pre-paid phone cards [and] also diverted in the form of cash
withdrawals. Some donations were used for horse rescue,” the
Division acknowledged.

“Both Catalano-Crumb and Wikoff are permanently barred from
soliciting charitable donations in New Jersey,” the Division added.
“NJ Horse Angels will cease operations and take down web pages that
were used for soliciting donations, under the terms of the Final
Judgment and Consent Order between the defendants and the Division of
Consumer Affairs.”
In addition to repaying the $57,129, Catalano-Crumb and
Wikoff “are required to pay $23,299 in costs attributed to the
investigation,” and face $500,625 in suspended civil penalties,
which “will be vacated after five years if the defendants do not
violate the settlement terms,” the Division said. NJ Horse Angels
also operated as NJ Horse Angels Rescue, NJ Killpen Horses, Horse
Angels of Facebook, Camelot Auction Horse Angels, and The Forgotten
Angels.