A judge in Columbiana County has extended the temporary restraining order prohibiting a charity from soliciting donations that were purportedly meant to benefit victims of the February 3rd Noforlk Southern train derailment in East Palestine.

Judge Scott Washam issued the extension after the Ohio Attorney General and the attorney representing the Ohio Clean Water Fund agreed to delay Thursday's scheduled court hearing on a motion to convert the restraining order into a preliminary injunction.

The motion hearing has been rescheduled until May 2.

Describing the Ohio Clean Water Fund as a "phony charity", Attorney General Dave Yost filed a civil lawsuit early this month alleging that the organization falsely claimed to be collecting on behalf of village residents.

Yost alleges that Mike Peppel presented his Ohio Clean Water Fund as a nonprofit organization acting on behalf of Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley to provide residents with emergency aid and bottled water.

Instead, according to the lawsuit, Peppel and others pocketed at least $131,000 of the roughly $141,000 raised from more than 3,000 donors. 

As reported in a 21 News Watchdog report, representatives of Second Harvest Food Bank complained to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office that they had not authorized the partnership cited by Peppel in soliciting contributions via mass emails and text messages. 

Yost is asking for a preliminary injunction to halt Peppel’s activity, prohibit him from engaging in additional charitable solicitations and preserve existing charitable assets.

Second Harvest Food Bank twice confronted Peppel to tell him to stop advertising the non-existent partnership. To date, and only after he was called out, Peppel has paid only $10,000 to the food bank, 7% of what Peppel admits he raised.