AIDS Charity’s Leader Accused of Taking Group’s Money

The founder of an AIDS charity has been accused of taking the group’s money to pay his own personal expenses, reports the Journal Gazette, in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Officials from the state attorney general’s office, which monitors charitable groups, are now looking into the organization.

The Rev. Donald Archey founded the nonprofit organization, the Archey AIDS Foundation, in 2002, with plans to open shelters for men and women with HIV/AIDS. No shelters have yet been built, and this September, the charity reported only $2,000 in its bank account.

Two people who say they have served as treasurer for the charity, Ron Muckway and Cathy Wilson, say Mr. Archey used the group’s money to pay personal cable, auto-insurance, and credit-card bills and forged Ms. Wilson’s signature to open a bank account for the nonprofit group. Mr. Archey refutes the embezzlement charges but admits to forging Ms. Wilson’s signature.

Mr. Archey also personally owes almost $35,000 in taxes. “That’s me. That’s not the Archey AIDS Foundation,” he told the newspaper.