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You are here: Home / Dog Adoption & Rescue / Desiderata Rescue Rips Off Seattle Area Animal Hospital

Desiderata Rescue Rips Off Seattle Area Animal Hospital

December 17, 2020 by RPregulman 7 Comments

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UPDATE: HOURS AFTER THIS POST WENT ONLINE YESTERDAY MIRIAM KELLY REPAID THE $632 DISCOUNT SHE GOT FROM A LOCAL ANIMAL HOSPITAL BY FALSELY PORTRAYING DESIDERATA RESCUE AS A CHARITY.

IRS Revoked Desiderata Rescue’s Charity Status in 2019

Last month, Miriam Kelly of Desiderata Rescue fraudulently claimed the rescue was a charity in order to get a discount of more than $600 for services provided by a Seattle area animal hospital.

The IRS determines whether or not a nonprofit can be classified as a legitimate 501(c)(3) charity. Once the IRS designates an organization as a charity, it does not have to pay federal income tax. Donors can also make tax deductible donations to it.

Charities must file annual tax returns with the IRS. Some must also file state returns. In addition, they must make their last 3 tax returns available to the public.

As I wrote earlier this year, the IRS designated Desiderata Rescue as a 501(c)(3) charity in 2016.

But the IRS revoked its 501(c)(3) status in 2019 for failing to provide tax returns for 3 years.

The IRS website shows Desiderata Rescue’s Charity Status was revoked in May, 2019.

I also noted that Miriam Kelly fraudulently promoted Desiderata Rescue as a charity after the IRS revoked its 501(c)(3) status.

Miriam Kelly continued to portray Desiderata Rescue as a 501(c)(3) charity on its website after the IRS revoked its charity status until I wrote about it earlier this year.

Seattle Area Veterinarian Taken for $632

Many dog rescues run on shoestring budgets, so some veterinarians and pet stores discount their bills to help them out.

To get this discount, they often require rescues to provide a copy of their 501(c)(3) designation letter from the IRS.

Recently someone from a local animal hospital sent me an email saying Miriam Kelly provided a letter from the IRS designating Desiderata Rescue as a 501(c)(3) charity in order to get a $632 discount on the services it provided for one of the rescue’s dogs.

Later this person discovered that the letter was invalid because the IRS revoked Desiderata Rescue’s charity status in 2019.

Here’s the email they sent:

“I work at a small animal emergency clinic. We recently had Miriam as a client and after arguing about the bill for one of her fostered puppies, gave her a 20% discount provided she showed us a copy of her 501c3, which was dated 2016. This is a $632 discount that we are now out of.”

This is the IRS letter Miriam Kelly sent to an animal hospital last month in order to get a $632 discount on her bill. The IRS revoked the group’s charity status in 2019.

Operating Illegally is Nothing New for Desiderata Rescue

Miriam Kelly has illegally operated her rescue for years. In addition to fraudulently claiming Desiderata Rescue was a 501(c)(3) charity, she posted fundraisers in Washington without registering with the Secretary of State’s Charity program or meeting Washington’s disclosure requirements for fundraising appeals.

And last July, after moving her unauthorized rescue to Seminole, OK, she sent sick puppies and kittens to Washington adopters.

A Kitsap County woman who adopted the orange cat from Desiderata Rescue said it was sick when she brought it home. It died a couple of days later.

She also continues to illegally sell dogs and cats in Washington without registering with state.

To the best of my knowledge, Desiderata Rescue isn’t registered to operate Oklahoma either.

Earlier this year, Adopt-a-Pet kicked Desiderata Rescue off its website after Seattle DogSpot reported the rescue for violating its terms of service,

Desiderata Rescue Doesn’t Exist

Legally, Desiderata Rescue doesn’t exist. Ms. Kelly hasn’t registered it to operate or sell animals anywhere.

Adopting a pet from Miriam Kelly is no different than buying one from someone who sells them on the side of a road. She’s just an individual that sells pets for hundreds of dollars.

And because she never submitted annual reports, no one knows how much money the rescue makes or where that money goes.

I plan to report Miriam Kelly’s fraudulent activities to the IRS. It doesn’t look kindly on organizations that falsely present themselves as charities.

Still, despite a few bad actors, responsible people run the vast majority of dog rescues. They operate within the law and ensure their dogs are healthy before anyone can adopt them.

Ms. Kelly’s antics shouldn’t prevent anyone from adopting a dog from a rescue. Just be sure to do your research to ensure it’s a responsible rescue that follows the law.

Miriam Kelly continues to raise money for Desiderata Rescue despite the fact that it isn’t registered to operate anywhere and technically no longer exists.
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Filed Under: Dog Adoption & Rescue, Dog News Tagged With: dog rescue, dogs

Comments

  1. Ilene says

    December 18, 2020 at 7:59 am

    We’ve adopted a couple of rescued dogs from her, it didn’t cost hundreds of dollars and they weren’t sick, they were taken from a shitty situation, vetted, and adopted to a better life.
    I feel like you’re bullying her.
    I don’t know her history but she really is just trying to help animals, and I appreciate her for that.
    Bad/Sad stories always travel faster and wider than the good ones, so… you take a couple instances of “bad” press, build them up and then skip over the hundreds of good things she does. That’s not fair. She doesn’t just go fund me for dogs, she offers the vet clinic info where people can pay directly to the vet for care of the animals she’s picking up off the side of the road.
    I have a hell of a good dog who gets to love life and protects us and our farm because of her.
    My elderly father has a hell of a good dog that has absolutely changed his life for the better because of her.
    When we picked our dogs up, she hugged them with tears in her eyes and thanked us for helping her give them a better, happier life.

    Reply
    • RPregulman says

      December 18, 2020 at 11:02 am

      I’m glad that your adoption worked out. As I’ve said in the past I’m not saying there are problems with every adoption from Desiderata. But no responsible rescue will consistently send sick animals to adopters. And responsible rescues comply with the law. Saving dogs/cats doesn’t make you immune from your legal obligations. Portraying your group as a charity when it isn’t is fraud, which is a serious crime.

      Reply
      • Laura says

        December 19, 2020 at 7:52 pm

        I’ve noticed you regularly go after only one rescue. Do you have a personal vendetta against them? It appears, with the amount of stories about them, that you do.

        Reply
        • RPregulman says

          December 20, 2020 at 7:04 am

          I actually planned to take3 a break from the website until the end of the the year but people keep sending me information about Desiderata. If I was getting information about other deceptive rescues I would write about them too but right now the only one I hear about is DR.

          Reply
    • Don says

      January 31, 2021 at 1:10 pm

      Naw…not if she came to oklahoma to slang animals in Washington….im afraid your wrong…and why didnt she file her info??? Why didnt she keep her 501c3? How much did it cost to adopt from her? And what kind of crappy situations we talking here??? And how do you know that they were really from bad situations??? Scars??

      Reply
  2. Actual animal lover says

    December 21, 2020 at 9:51 pm

    I hope she sues you for defamation.

    Reply
    • RPregulman says

      December 22, 2020 at 7:24 am

      You can’t sue for defamation because someone told the truth, but I’ll defend what I wrote in court if that’s necessary.

      Reply

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