{"id":10724,"date":"2018-10-10T21:01:28","date_gmt":"2018-10-10T21:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/10\/charity-for-veterans-funerals-faces-federal-investigation\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:28:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:28:51","slug":"charity-for-veterans-funerals-faces-federal-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/federal-oversight\/2018\/10\/10\/charity-for-veterans-funerals-faces-federal-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Charity for veterans’ funerals faces federal investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To hear Army veteran Troy D. Walker tell it, Dog Tag Furniture\u2019s<\/a> mission to aid vets began after a service buddy killed himself and the family couldn\u2019t afford a funeral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Veterans Affairs can only provide a few hundred dollars, the Minnesota man told \u201cFox and Friends\u201d<\/a> on Sept. 23, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe body was going to go unclaimed and be put in a baggie,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walker recalled going into debt to help pay his friend\u2019s funeral costs and then realized no organizations existed to solely help fund veterans’ funerals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roughly six years later, Dog Tag Furniture builds and sells wooden American flags and other patriotic products, billing itself on social media and TV interviews as an organization funding veteran funerals via donations and wooden flag sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe money goes to pay for the funerals of these families who cannot afford one,\u201d Walker told \u201cFox and Friends\u201d<\/a> during a return appearance on Nov. 22, 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hold the personal responsibility to make sure every dollar I received goes out to funerals,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now, Walker, his wife Ranemma and Dog Tag Furniture are under investigation by the FBI and U.S. Postal Service amid allegations of money laundering and wire fraud in \u201ca scheme to defraud donors who made charitable donations to their company,\u201d according to court records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTroy Walker…both solicited donations to Dog Tag Furniture and sold wooden flags to customers of Dog Tag Furniture by falsely representing to donors and customers that Dog Tag Furniture was a charitable organization and that all of the proceeds of donations and sales would be used to provide funerals for military veterans,\u201d according to a sworn affidavit attached to a federal search warrant request from last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInstead of using their money to pay for funerals for military veterans, Troy and Ranemma Walker used a significant portion of the money for their own purposes,” the affidavit added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPersonal purchases\u201d allegedly included tattoo parlor payments, private school tuition for the Walkers\u2019 children, $9,000 at Disney resorts, $5,000 in \u201cfood and entertainment expenses\u201d and $7,000 to a law firm representing the couple \u201cin connection with a dispute with the City of Norwood Young America,\u201d according to the affidavit, which Military Times obtained from the U.S. Department of Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walker has not been charged with a crime and the federal probe into misconduct allegations noted in the affidavit continues, according to Department of Justice officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the charity received about $490,000 in sales and donations from August 2017 to July 2018, Dog Tag Furniture allegedly covered the expenses of just two funerals at a total cost of $3,295, federal authorities allege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walker, 38, declined to comment on the allegations through Robb Leer, his Minneapolis-based spokesman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dog Tag Furniture\u2019s criminal defense attorney, Marsh Halberg, did not dispute some of the spending allegations detailed in the affidavit but said \u201cthe Walkers were sloppy in the use of their private checkbooks and the corporate checkbook.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Walkers paid for other funerals, but those payments came out of their private accounts, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because federal authorities have seized their electronic records \u201cwe\u2019re kind of handicapped in that,\u201d Halberg said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey were not living an affluent lifestyle,\u201d Halberg said. \u201cThese people were not used to that. They weren\u2019t business savvy in that sense.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Walkers did take a Disney trip, Halberg said, but the organization\u2019s board of directors \u201cencouraged them to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The federal search warrant affidavit claims that Walker told radio host Glenn Beck during an April interview that his organization pays an average of $3,600 per funeral and has funded about 200 of them but law enforcement “has found no evidence of Dog Tag Furniture providing any funds for other funerals, including the funerals Walker specifically referenced on social media, such as\u2026an unnamed female Minnesota National Guard member\u201d and two others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About $17,000 in Dog Tag Furniture funds instead went to pay Walker\u2019s mortgage \u201cafter the residence went into foreclosure in or about August 2017,\u201d according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn lieu of salary, the organization paid for basic living expenses so they could continue to live,\u201d defense attorney Halberg said. \u201cThey did pay for mortgages and food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dog Tag Furniture was founded in 2015 as a for-profit corporation, according to the federal search warrant affidavit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was initially created to provide a second income to bankroll a future trip to Disney World, but turned altruistic after Walker\u2019s friend killed himself, according to the organization\u2019s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walker applied for tax-exempt, non-profit status in September 2017 and received an approval letter from the Internal Revenue Service in February, a copy of which was shared with Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although walker told Beck during his radio interview that neither he nor his wife drew salaries from Dog Tag Furniture, about $90,000 was transferred from the organization\u2019s checking account to the Walkers’ personal coffers between August 2017 and July 2018, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The transfers occurred when “the Walkers\u2019 personal bank accounts had limited other sources of income,\u201d wrote Christine Kroells, a U.S. Postal Inspector, in her affidavit seeking a search warrant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The affidavit states the couple received unemployment benefits and what appeared to be worker\u2019s compensation payments in 2017 and 2018, but Walker denies they received unemployment assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Army vet Troy Walker told KTSP-TV in Minnesota last year that he raises money for veteran funerals through his company, Dog Tag Furniture. Now, the feds are investigating whether Walker and his wife funneled the proceeds to themselves. (Screenshot courtesy KSTP-TV).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During the Nov. 22, 2017, appearance on Fox and Friends<\/a>, Walker said he nearly lost his home a few months earlier but \u201ca donor stepped forward and got me caught up on my mortgage\u201d after his initial appearance on the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was getting into so much debt with this flag building business,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That contribution was part of a flood of Dog Tag Furniture purchases and donations Walker reported receiving after his first Fox and Friends appearance. Dog Tag Furniture\u2019s website crashed after that first appearance, he said, with folks sending pledges ranging between $5 and $5,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWithin five minutes of me being on the show I found out my voicemail can only hold 112 messages,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While welcoming him back for his second spot on the show, Fox host Ainsley Earhardt<\/a> announced that \u201cTroy\u2019s website received over $100,000 in sales, thanks to you, our amazing, generous viewers,” in the hours following the first appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love that even when you were in dire straits, you use all the money still to pay for funerals, because you get your paycheck from the military,\u201d Earhardt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you for fighting for our country,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dog Tag Furniture portrays itself as an organization where veterans help veterans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its logo features two hanging military identification tags forming a \u201c22,\u201d an oft-reported estimate of how many veterans kill themselves each day, and Walker notes his Army service in videos on the organization\u2019s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was a \u201919-Kilo,\u2019 which translates to Abrams tank crewman,\u201d Walker said in one website video<\/a>. \u201cYes, I drove around the big beast of the battlefield.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But military service records show it\u2019s been a long time since Walker drew Army pay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walker enlisted in 1999 and left active duty in 2002, and his most recent rank change was to private, or E-1, in November of 2001, according to service records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walker disputed the 2001 demotion in an email forwarded by his spokesman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter 9\/11 some of us didn\u2019t get paid due to the pentagon (sic) damage, I wasn\u2019t paid for almost 4 months and told my commander no pay, no training and walked off post until I got paid,\u201d Walker wrote. \u201cAfter I got paid, I was given an article 15 for AWOL and reduced from E-4 to E-3 and promoted back in a few months, not sure why it says E-1???\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Walker said he served in the \u201cInactive Reserves\u201d until 2009, when he was honorably discharged. Army officials reported he was in the Individual Ready Reserve<\/a> from 2002 to 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army officials said he was administratively separated from the service but declined to characterize the nature of his discharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Military Times requested a copy of Walker\u2019s DD214 discharge form or other service records that might shed light on the alleged discrepancies, his spokesman wrote in an email that \u201csince Feds searched and seized his computers and files late last month \u2014 Troy was left without any hard copy paper files or his hard drive to access files like this from.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll my battle buddies have seen my interviews and have NEVER publicly disputed anything I said in regards to my service,\u201d Walker said in an email forwarded to Military Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The federal search warrant executed last month does not appear to be the only time law enforcement has searched Walker\u2019s home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carver County Sheriff\u2019s Office deputies combed it as well, according to an April press release<\/a> from the agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March, authorities said Walker provided Carver County deputies with a suspicious email he asserted was written by an official from his town of Norwood Young America<\/a>, about an hour\u2019s drive from Minneapolis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But deputies determined the message had been sent through Walker\u2019s own IP address, \u201csuggesting the email had come through Walker\u2019s own computer(s),\u201d the press release states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An email from someone named \u201cJacob\u201d also claimed Norwood Young America officials were harassing Walker but county investigators found it also came from Walker\u2019s IP address, the agency wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like federal probes, local investigations often peter out without prosecutors indicting their targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Angella Erickson \u2014 the criminal division manager for the Carver County Attorney\u2019s Office \u2014 told Military Times that the matters raised in the sheriff\u2019s release remain under investigation but there are \u201cno current pending charges\u201d against Walker or his wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an email shared with Military Times through his spokesman, Walker said the Carver County allegations are \u201cactually what started this investigation.\u201d In fact, he wrote, the county charges \u201cwere dismissed shortly after for lack of evidence\u201d and he blamed local prosecutors for instigating the wider federal probe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince they could not get me on those charges, they called the FBI,\u201d he continued. \u201cThat is why our books are so (wacky) is because they keep getting taken.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Erickson disputed Walker\u2019s allegation and said local officials did not contact federal law enforcement about him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo my knowledge, the Carver County Sheriff\u2019s Office is not involved with any investigation by the FBI,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defense attorney Halberg said Dog Tag Furniture is \u201cpausing everything\u201d because of \u201cnegative publicity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n