Homes that take in troubled kids from Tucson face state shutdown, federal tax woes | Subscriber

[ad_1]

A star review of real estate records, charitable tax returns, and company registration records has raised multiple red flags regarding the accounting and finances of Mary’s Mission. An expert said the operator doesn’t seem to be following nonprofit management best practices.

About $ 300,000 in federal tax liens are registered against Lacey, the CEO, at the boy’s home address. The liens documented in the Cochise County Recorder’s Office were filed because Mary’s Mission withheld wage taxes from employees instead of transferring funds to the government, according to public records.

The unpaid taxes piled up between 2012 and 2019, the same period that Lacey took out a $ 320,000 mortgage on his personal residence and paid it off in less than seven years. The mortgage on his home in Sierra Vista was taken on June 20, 2012 and fully paid on January 3, 2019, according to the property records.

Mary’s Mission’s tax returns also show that Lacey failed to disclose that he and a board member of Mary’s Mission registered a for-profit real estate acquisition company at the boys’ home address in 2002, a company that is still in business, state company records show. Last year, Lacey registered a second, similar for-profit company at the address of a satellite location of Mary’s Mission in Mesa, the records show.

In another irregularity, Mary’s Mission’s list of tax returns is “Land and Buildings” even though the charity owns no land or buildings. The boys and girls’ homes belong to Lacey personally and not the nonprofit, as the property records show.

[ad_2]