FARMINGTON — The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is trying to stop a California man they believe is pocketing money that was solicited for veterans organizations.

On Friday, the Attorney General’s Office filed a petition for a temporary restraining order in the Circuit Court of St. Francois County against James Kent Barbee and the Liberty Farm Spirit Foundation. A hearing is scheduled on 9 a.m. Sept. 27 before Associate Circuit Judge Robin E. Fulton of Madison County.

The Attorney General’s Office alleges Barbee has been soliciting donations for the Liberty Spirit Farm Foundation in rural Missouri and for the Veterans Memorial Museum in Branson.

It alleges Barbee and Liberty Spirit Farm Foundation solicited donations in Missouri and other states for Liberty Spirit Farms or Liberty Spirit Ranch through a Web site, http://www.libertyspiritsfarm.org.

According to the petition, Barbee, the registered operator of the Web site, portrays that the foundation owns a 840-acre farm in Missouri near Rolla and Fort Leonard Wood that is used for rural retreats for veterans returning from war to recover from post-traumatic stress disorder.

The petition alleges this is a misrepresentation because Barbee does not own the land that is shown in pictures on the Web site. He had attempted to purchase the land from April to June but was not able to prove he had the $2.2 million needed for the purchase.

The petition alleges he continued to display pictures of the farm that he did not own. In June, he began soliciting for funds for a ranch in California that would be similar in nature to the farm in Missouri.

The foundation was described as “a Missouri nonprofit 170c3 combat veterans foundation for the purpose of establishing a rural facility to serve the United States military personnel returning from the war zones.”

However, the petition states the foundation holds no tax-exempt status with the IRS and has not registered with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office as a charitable organization per the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act.

The petition further alleges in July, an Attorney General investigator sent $100 to the organization and it was deposited into the Liberty Spirit Farm Foundation bank account, leaving the balance at $165. Two days later, Barbee wrote a check out to himself for $159, leaving the balance at $6.

“Between May 9, 2007 and July 31, 2007, Defendant Barbee wrote a total of $15,691.00 in checks to himself out of the LSFF bank account,” the petition states. “Defendant Barbee re-deposited a substantial portion of the money ... into (his) personal account ...”

In the second part of the petition, it alleges Barbee ran a Web site requesting donations for the NVMM’s Veterans Memorial Museum in Branson. The director of NVMM was listed as Dr. Jim Barbee.

Barbee represented that Fred Hoppe of Nebraska, the creator of museum, agreed to sell the museum to the Nonprofit National Veterans Memorial Museums (NVMM), allowing his creation to be handed to the next generation in the form of NVMM “to protect this amazing memorial.”

Hoppe told the Attorney General’s Office that Barbee approached him about forming a 501c3 organization to purchase the museum in late 2005. He said Barbee signed a letter of intent to purchase the museum but never did. In early, 2007, Hoppe told Barbee that he wasn’t going to wait for him any longer.

Hoppe told the office that Barbee has never owned or been affiliated with the museum and did not have the authority to solicit funds for the museum.

The office alleges he also misrepresented the museum as a 501c3 education nonprofit corporation.

The office is seeking an immediate temporary restraining order to “protect the public from losing money to unregistered organizations, whose representatives falsely identify themselves as tax-exempt entities when soliciting for charitable contributions.”

The office is also asking for a preliminary and permanent injunction keeping the defendant and Liberty Spirit Farms from participating in unlawful, unfair or deceptive practices.

It is also seeking an order for the defendant to provide an accounting of all donations collected for both organizations. It asks the court to provide full restitution to all consumers who gave money to those organizations.

The office also is asking the court to order Barbee to pay a fine and court/prosecution costs.

The order was filed in St. Francois County because “some of the violations of the Merchandising Practices Act occurred” here, but it does not specify how.

Teresa Ressel is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-431-2010, ext. 179 or at tressel@dailyjournalonline.com.

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