LISBON –Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a complaint Thursday asking a judge to dissolve the Lamb’s House nonprofit in Rogers, claiming alleged misuse of the charitable funds and property controlled by board president Mark Altomare.

“This nonprofit has served no charitable purpose for years, operating only as a personal ATM and a source of free housing for its president,” Yost said in a press release. “The jig is up.”

The case was filed in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court against Lamb’s House and against Altomare, who was reportedly living on the nonprofit’s 43-acre Union Ridge Road property. Also named as defendants were the organizations other board members, Jo Propri of Warren, and Randy Clark of East Liverpool.

Yost also filed a motion for temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction and emergency appointment of Ken Goldberg as receiver to “wind-up Lamb’s House and collect, marshal and distribute the charitable trust assets of Lamb’s House to the attorney general to be redistributed in his discretion for charitable use.”

The motion said a receiver is needed to take immediate control of any remaining assets of Lamb’s House, which includes a nine-bedroom house, a 13,000 square-foot multi-bed commercial building and two barns on the property, along with at two checking/savings accounts.

“The actions of Lamb’s House board members are creating a substantial risk of waste or dissipation of charitable assets,” the motion said.

According to the complaint, board members neglected their duties to Lamb’s House, which was founded as a ministry supporting addiction recovery. Lamb’s House was incorporated on July 8, 2002 and received tax-exempt status on May 16, 2003. The complaint said the board members failed to oversee the operation.

“Instead, they allowed Altomare full control, allowing him to put his best interests ahead of the charity. Board members gave board president Altomare a blank check to help himself to the funds and assets of Lamb’s House, in turn he reported personal expenses without any substantiation, depleting the charity’s assets,” the lawsuit said.

The document said the average cost of claimed program-related expenses reported from 2018 to 2023 was $82,818 and the average cash balance at the beginning of the year for those years was $30,295, but as of Sept. 30, 2024, the bank account balances were $3,067.

Altomare was reportedly the only employee and allegedly provided no records or schedules showing his hours of work ministering for Lamb’s House. According to the lawsuit, his work time decreased sharply due to health issues, with zero hours a week reported on the nonprofit’s IRS report for 2023, one hour a week for 2022 and 30 hours a week for 2021.

The commercial building was allegedly used to provide housing to recovering addicts for an unknown period prior to 2017 and from mid-2017 through 2022 was used not for charitable purposes, but as an income generator through rent from a for-profit company using the building. Since 2023, the building has been unused and vacant.

The document listed a number of alleged improper expenditures of Lamb’s House funds from Jan. 1, 2022 to Sept. 30, 2024, such as $14,849 for Sam’s Club purchases, $3,424 to Walmart, $5,298 at various restaurants, $3,334 for Hulu subscription purchases, $12,596 for vehicle-related purchases, $11,602 for gas purchases, $1,148 for vehicle insurance, $3,482 for cell phone charges, $2,980 for Comcast purchases and $20,211 for electricity. Cash of $1,698 was withdrawn from bank accounts of Lamb’s House.

The lawsuit makes claims of breach of fiduciary duties, abuse of a charitable trust, reformation of a charitable trust, unjust enrichment, conversion and false and misleading information in filings. The lawsuit alleged board members falsely reported rental income from its lease to the for-profit entity as individual contributions, gifts, grants and similar amounts received and falsely reported the actual income received by Altomare by failing to include compensation for housing, utility bills, food, cell phone and grocery expenses provided to him.

The complaint is also seeking a permanent injunction to stop Altomare, Propri and Clark form ever holding positions as officers or directors of any charitable trust or charitable organization in Ohio or from soliciting in Ohio for charitable purposes as a volunteer, trustee, officer, employee, representative, agent or independent contractor.

An order of restitution or civil damages is also being sought against Altomare for an amount exceeding $25,000 for money not used to support the charitable programming. Civil penalties of $10,000 each are being sought against Altomare, Propri and Clark for each violation.

The case was brought by the Charitable Law Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, which is responsible for enforcing state laws governing nonprofits and protecting the integrity of charitable donations.

The case has been assigned to Judge Megan Bickerton.

Ohioans who suspect a charitable organization of fraud or misuse can file a complaint at charitable.ohioago.gov or by calling 1-800-282-0515.