Woman, 57, charged in Space Coast Honor Flight door-to-door charity scam

BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A 57-year-old woman was arrested in Brevard County on charges she pretended to represent Space Coast Honor Flight to scam donors out of funds meant for the charity organization.

Space Coast Honor Flight sends veterans and escorts to Washington, D.C., seven times a year to visit war memorials.

Honor Flight spokeswoman Teri Eno said the flights are a trip of a lifetime for some veterans.

“These guy were 16 years old. They went to war. They did everything for us. We want to say thank you,” Eno said.

Phyllis Lackey is accused of playing on that desire to help veterans to scam funds from potential Honor Flight donors.

Using the Space Coast Honor Flight name and a donation form that organization officials believe was printed from its website, Lackey would solicit cash donations for the group, deputies said.

The nonprofit organization, though, never had a relationship with Lackey.

“Ms. Lackey has never been employed by Space Coast Honor Flight, nor was she allowed to collect funds on their behalf,” the group told the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office.

In one case, Lackey took a $100 cash donation from an elderly woman who wanted to honor her son, who had recently died.

Eno is worried that scams like the one Lackey is accused of perpetrating, could dissuade potential donors from giving funds to legitimate charities.

“When we learned an individual was using a donation form from our website to solicit money door-to-door, (it was) terrifying for us,” Eno said.

Investigators believed Lackey could have been fraudulently collecting donations for Space Coast Honor Flight as far back as 2010.

The organization president told Channel 9 that the group never solicits donations door-to-door.

Lackey is facing charges of false impersonation and operating a scheme to defraud under false pretenses.

She was being held at the Brevard County Jail in lieu of bonds totaling $5,500.

Cox Media Group