TOLEDO, Ohio — Agents from the Ohio attorney general’s office will be in Toledo next week to question the founder of the Anthony Dia Foundation, the charity founded in 2020 in honor of slain Toledo police officer Anthony Dia.
Tony Dia, officer Dia's father, confirmed to 11 Investigates that Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents recently stopped by his home to ask about the foundation. He is out of town, working on the construction of a solar field in northwest Indiana, but his wife talked to the agents. Dia said he will meet with agents Wednesday.
It’s unclear who is the target of the investigation related to next week’s meeting. 11 Investigates has spoken to four people who said they have been interviewed by agents about the activities of a second individual who has helped raise money for the foundation.
When asked if he was concerned about meeting with agents, Dia replied, “No, not at all. I have nothing to hide.”
He does believe that scrutiny from the AG’s office came about because of a raffle the foundation organized in 2021. Tickets for $100 were sold for the chance to win a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
“We sold maybe $3,000 to $4,000 worth of tickets and the bike itself was more than $20,000, so there was no way we could have it,” Dia said.
The foundation canceled the raffle, but a handful of Facebook posters were critical about the failed raffle, including one commenter who said he would alert state officials about the matter.
Cassie Meeker left several posts, saying she and her husband had purchased three tickets and accused the foundation of running a scam. When reached by 11 Investigates, she said she was angry and that it took about six months to get a refund.
Dia admitted that the foundation was having cash-flow issues and blamed his inexperience in running his foundation. He said many charitable things he did in the foundation’s name were funded with money out of his own pocket.
In a social media post in December, Dia said that he was shutting down the foundation and referenced issues with its 501(c)(3) status.
Ohio Secretary of State records indicate that the foundation is registered as a nonprofit in Ohio, but registration as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization is a multi-step process. After the initial step, an application must be submitted to the IRS for an employer identification number, then that number must be provided to the state of Ohio.
“I just thought being set up as a nonprofit that it was automatically a 501(c)(3), but then about a year later, I come to find out that it wasn’t, that there was a separate filing and other stuff involved with it. I, honest to God, had no idea and just thought that a nonprofit entity was automatically a 501(c)(3),” Dia said.
Toledo Police Officer Anthony Dia was shot and killed on July 4, 2020, while responding to a call at the Home Depot on Alexis Road.
A little more than a month after his son’s death, Dia announced he was forming the foundation and also that he was running for Toledo City Council to honor his son's memory.
Dia lost the city council race to Katie Moline, but the foundation had multiple accomplishments before running into financial problems, including paying for funeral expenses for a couple of families who lost children, purchasing a ballistic shield for the Toledo Police Department’s SWAT team, replacing stolen tools for a TPD officer, and starting a boxing gym on Douglas Road.
Dia said if he had to do it over again, he would not start the foundation or run for office.
“The state of mind that I was in, it was just a bad time to do it,” Dia said. “I was way over my head and I really thought that somebody was going to end up coming to my rescue and helping me.”
His wife, Jehan, expressed anger that so many people have criticized the foundation.
“He didn’t know how to run it, but he needed to do something to honor his son," she said. "It blew up in our faces.”
Jayme Dia, Anthony Dia’s widow, said she is also frustrated by the negative attention and worries that it could tarnish her husband’s name.
“I want people to know that I want nothing but good things done in my husband’s name. I am in no way associated with or benefitted from the foundation,” Jayme Dia said. “Everyone in the community has always been so good to us. I love the community and don’t want this to ruin his memory.”
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