State Will Probe Animal Charity’s Purchase of Guns

State authorities said Wednesday they will investigate the activities and finances of an animal welfare organization suspected of using charitable donations to buy as much as $100,000 worth of weapons, including assault-style pistols just before they were restricted under federal gun-control legislation.

The investigation, state authorities said, was prompted by a report in The Times this week that agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had seized 12 assault-style pistols from James McCourt, leader of the Van Nuys-based Mercy Crusade.

McCourt, a Pepperdine University economics professor, said he bought the weapons with Mercy Crusade funds for the group’s “humane officers”--quasi-police appointed by private animal welfare groups under an obscure state civil code.

Although it was legal for McCourt to buy the weapons, the sources said, the ATF is still investigating why an animal welfare group would want so much firepower.

Many of the weapons are not used even by large police departments, except in small numbers by specially trained and monitored SWAT teams.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Jim Cordi said the purchases also raise other questions that his office will investigate. Among them: Did Mercy Crusade use tax-exempt charitable contributions, given by donors who presumed that their money would go to help protect animals, to buy large numbers of guns instead? If so, was that a proper use of donations under state laws regulating registered charities?

State investigators will “look into . . . whether the expenditure of all those funds on weapons relates to the accomplishment of a charitable purpose,” said Cordi, lead attorney for the attorney general’s charitable trust section in Los Angeles.

“The group was formed for a charitable purpose and for no other purpose other than charitable purposes.”

Cordi declined to comment on details of the inquiry. Although equipment purchases may fall under acceptable uses of donated money for charitable organizations such as Mercy Crusade, one state official said McCourt’s stated reason for purchasing the guns--protecting animal shelters from rioters--did not sound credible.

According to federal authorities, McCourt bought or ordered at least 34 weapons last year, including five AR-15s, a Bushmaster and a Fabrique Nationale de Arms .308--all modified versions of military assault rifles--plus an unusually powerful Israeli .50-caliber pistol.

The guns, McCourt said, were purchased for Mercy Crusade’s 12 or so humane officers, unpaid volunteers who have powers of investigation and arrest in animal abuse cases and even child welfare cases.

Although they can wear uniforms and badges virtually identical to those of CHP officers and carry guns, humane officers are supervised by no government agency and are required to undergo little formal law enforcement training. They draw their authority from a state law more than 80 years old that allows animal welfare groups to appoint such officers, with the approval of the county presiding judge. Court officials have said that approvals are routinely granted.

Mercy Crusade has been active in animal welfare efforts for more than 40 years, and McCourt was honored last year by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for Mercy Crusade’s $20,000 donation toward county efforts to spay and neuter pets.

McCourt has denied any wrongdoing. He said he bought the guns for his officers mostly for training and protection during investigations and to gain respect from other law enforcement agencies and foster camaraderie among his officers.

Although some humane officers are full-time paid employees of the groups that name them, Mercy Crusade is among the groups that field volunteers who function as police in their spare time. The Mercy Crusade officers recently included a retired kennel operator, a restaurant security guard, a martial arts instructor, a lawyer and McCourt, the group’s chief.

McCourt said no funds specifically raised to help spay and neuter animals were used to buy guns, but acknowledged that the group’s fund-raising solicitations don’t specify how the money will be spent. He said all gun purchases were approved by the group’s board of directors, of which he is chairman. None of the other people that McCourt said were on the board could be reached for comment.

Some animal welfare groups reacted to the disclosure of Mercy Crusade’s gun purchases with dismay, questioning why an animal welfare group would spend so much money on firepower.

“We don’t have nearly that many weapons and our officers are in the field every day,” said Madeline Bernstein, executive director of the Los Angeles Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

She said her group, by far the largest animal welfare organization in Southern California, has only five full-time humane officers, to Mercy Crusade’s dozen volunteers.

Bernstein urged that the state establish a watchdog agency to supervise humane officers, who are not required to undergo the extensive weapons training, psychological testing and detailed background checks standard for other law enforcement officers.

The state attorney general’s office said it planned to ask for all of Mercy Crusade’s records at the group’s Van Nuys office and those on file with the state’s Registry of Charitable Trusts in Sacramento.

If violations are found, the state could bring a civil lawsuit against Mercy Crusade and the group could be fined or ordered to pay back misspent or misused assets, Cordi said.

“If mismanagement is severe enough, we can get the court to remove its officers and directors and appoint new ones. If we find criminal violations, we would refer the case to a district attorney.”