Man duped people into donating, police say

Police said the veterans group the donations were supposed to benefit never received a cent.
BATAVIA, Ohio (AP) -- A man who police say hired workers to stand outside businesses with 5-gallon buckets and collect donations has been charged with stealing thousands of dollars from people who believed the spare change they dropped in would benefit veterans.
Clinton Fuston, 52, is accused of stealing at least 60,000 through what police said was a scheme that went on for at least six years. He had received permission from more than 60 businesses in the Cincinnati area to collect donations outside and also set up buckets at intersections, said Sgt. John Swing of the Miami Township police in Clermont County.
A grand jury indicted the Union Township man on a charge of grand theft Wednesday. Fuston was being held in the county jail.
Police say the Army & amp; Navy Union, the veterans group the donations were supposed to benefit, never received any money. Police began investigating after officers became suspicious of a man they say Fuston had hired.
How system operated
Fuston usually had a half-dozen people gathering donations throughout the year, although that number doubled around Veterans Day and Memorial Day, Swing said. The workers were paid 7 an hour out of the coins and bills they collected, he said.
Those who donated were offered a small American flag. The flags' manufacturer told police that Fuston had bought more than 160,000 of them.
Police confiscated more than 8,000 that Fuston had in a checking account that was supposed to benefit the veterans group.
"Most of the checks [written on the bank account] were to his family and for personal use, like fixing his car or paying for personal items," Swing said.
Some of the money raised was transferred to a Boy Scout troop Fuston led and used to pay for a trip he took to Disney World with two of his children and two other Boy Scouts, Swing said.