The mother of a Cobb County marine killed in a Chattanooga mass shooting last year has severed ties with a charity that helped raise money for her slain son’s foundation.
Marines and Mickey and the The Skip Wells Foundation worked together to raise money since Cathy Wells' son Marine Lance Cpl. Squire Wells and four other servicemen were killed in the July 16 mass shooting.
Now, Wells and her supporters are raising questions about its founder's military background and its spending.
“It’s hard to watch her go through the loss of her son and now she's having to deal with this,” said Jason Weeks, Skip Wells Foundation co-chair.
The Skip Wells Foundation seeks to raise money for the ROTC and band programs at Marietta's Sprayberry High School, where Wells graduated.
Two weeks ago, Weeks says he received information that the Marines and Mickey charity’s founder, John Simpson, was misappropriating funds.
On Friday, Weeks told Channel 2 Action News he asked for $135,000 back from Marines and Mickey that he believes belongs to Cathy Wells. Of that money, $75,000 was given directly by Wells and the rest was raised through donations.
Weeks says Simpson did not agree to the terms and left the meeting.
“I can guarantee that it was not being spent on what he stated it was going to be,” said Weeks.
Now, Weeks claims he has spoken to authorities, who are investigating the charity.
“There’s lots of proof out there, but we're working on it,” he said.
Simpson calls the allegations “completely false” and is threatening to take legal action of his own.
“We did several events that had Marines and Mickey’s name and Skip Wells’ name attached to it,” Simpson tells Channel 2 Action News in an email. “These funds raised sent 14 families to Disney since October 2015.”
Cathy Wells and the charity have held various fundraisers together since 2015. Simpson now questions the motives of Wells and her supporters.
“This is nothing more than a blackmail attempt by a competing foundation,” said Simpson.
If Wells gets the money back, she says she will put it back in her own foundation.
*Stephanie Toone contributed to this report.
