ASHEVILLE – Dave Graham was home in Ohio when he got a text from someone watching over his donation hub, with supplies meant for Tropical Storm Helene victims, at the BP gas station in Swannanoa Oct. 25.
“That … head Mark just stole all of your stuff cut your tent with a razor (and) ran over my friend on a scooter,” Richard Neeb texted Graham at 8 a.m.
Graham, a medically retired U.S. Navy veteran, had been sleeping in a tent in Swannanoa, helping supply donations to residents through his nonprofit Hearts Hurt since day No. 7 after Tropical Storm Helene, he said.
A couple weeks into volunteering, he was introduced to a doctor named Mark, who he was told was there from Florida and had “a bunch” of new donations to hand out, he said.
But Graham soon started to see some things he felt were red flags.
“I don’t see this guy volunteering,” Graham told another volunteer, pointing out how he would show up to supply stations at “weird hours.” He began to be suspicious that the Florida doctor was “skimming from the top,” stealing items from supply centers in Swannanoa under the guise he was going to deliver the items to Helene victims, Graham said.