Paulding County resident Sarah Koeppen started a nonprofit to help prevent infant abandonment then spent tens of thousands of dollars in charitable donations on herself, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says.
Raffensperger is suing Koeppen and her nonprofit organization, The Hope Box, asking that they be made to turn over all misappropriated funds and pay a $100,000 penalty.
“Donations were used for personal expenses, personal meals, personal travel, cosmetic services, and wedding expenses,” Raffensperger said in his complaint, filed Wednesday in the Fulton County Superior Court.
Koeppen, of Dallas, did not answer calls or respond to phone and email messages.
A representative of Raffensperger’s office declined to comment on the case.
Koeppen has widely promoted herself as a mother, nonprofit founder, author and public speaker. She claims to have rescued babies from sex traffickers. She advocated for the 2017 changes to Georgia’s Safe Haven Law.
Raffensperger started investigating Koeppen in early 2022, when alerted that she was operating an unregistered charity in violation of Georgia’s Charitable Solicitations Act.
“Hope Box is not and has never been registered as a charitable organization,” he says in his lawsuit, adding that Koeppen routinely underreported how much money she received in donations solicited in part through social media, websites and radio and podcast interviews.
From January 2018 through June 2023, Koeppen used charitable donations to get her hair, nails and teeth done, buy clothes, shoes and beauty supplies, go on vacation, and host birthday dinner parties, Raffensperger claims. He says she spent more than $36,000 in donations on restaurants, coffee, fast food, brewhouses and liquor stores in a four-year period.
Koeppen used donor funds to pay for flowers and photographers at her son’s wedding, take her family to Florida, fly to Colorado for a family reunion, and host an out-of-state party for her sister, according to the complaint.
She also transferred thousands of dollars in donations from The Hope Box’s business bank account to a personal checking account of her husband, Joel Koeppen, who did not work for the nonprofit, Raffensperger says.
Credit: Phil Skinner
Credit: Phil Skinner
In June 2023, Koeppen signed an agreement with Raffensperger to shut down The Hope Box, cease all charitable solicitation and distribute its funds and assets in accordance with applicable laws. She had to withdraw the nonprofit’s tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service.
The consent order, attached to the lawsuit, also required Koeppen to inform all groups and organizations that received training or services from The Hope Box about its dissolution. Those entities included law enforcement, fire and rescue groups, first responders and hospitals.
Raffensperger said Koeppen has failed to comply with the agreement, in part by continuing to solicit and accept donations.
An attorney who represented The Hope Box at the time of the agreement said the corporation was administratively dissolved this year and is no longer a client. A different attorney who represented Koeppen in regard to the agreement did not immediately respond to an inquiry.
Records published by Raffensperger’s office show the company was established in May 2015 and administratively dissolved in September 2024. Koeppen is listed as the company’s registered agent, chief executive officer, chief financial officer and secretary.
In his lawsuit, Raffensperger said Koeppen has failed to file all documents necessary to complete the voluntary dissolution process. He says she hasn’t closed all the nonprofit’s bank accounts, disclosed its finances, or provided proof that she’s stopped soliciting donations.
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