Is Spread Peace Reno a scam?

Interesting concept ....Marketing maniac attacks Reno Residents. If he was so successful in making money, then why is he stealing from others. Guess it's just another scam! So here's a bit of info :) Now keep in mind that Chris Tinney is NOT on the Spread Peace Cafe...think people, think! Why is that? Non-profit vs profitable franchise??? Maybe...maybe not. I'll leave this here until we see! How does Chris and his wife actually pay their own bills? Are any of these things still legit? Has anyone ever googled their name with "scam" after it? Try it sometime!

Spread Peace Reno, a self-proclaimed Non-profit and supposed church, however they do not come up under non-profit searches with the IRS or with the State of Nevada. I can find no proof that they are actually a non-profit and the only “documents” they do provide is their tax-exempt status letter which was obtained by providing false information. My concern is that they are not a non-profit and are collecting large amounts of money under false pretenses.

They have been collecting money under the name of Spread Peace Reno in Nevada since at least February or March of 2009. They claim on their Facebook page that they have 20 local businesses donating $100 a month each and they are holding fundraisers to collect more. They have individuals who donate via PayPal on multiple sites. They ask for money and actively seek “Peace Pals” who pay one-time and monthly donations via Paypal links on several of their websites, not just one. They ask for money and direct people to those Paypal links on their Facebook groups too. When questioned about where the money is being spent, no direct answers are given. Instead, guilt stories about how questioning what they’re doing “hurts homeless people” are all they reply with. To my knowledge, they do not have budgets or expenses available for anyone to view and their bank records are not being monitored by anyone but Chris and Tysha Tinney. Now they have started a business with a wealthy resident that they befriended here about a year ago, Randy Tam. The business they’re involved in is called “Spread Peace Café” which is getting attention because the business claims that when you buy food from them, they will buy a meal for the homeless under the supposed non-profit Spread Peace Reno.

Spread Peace Café does come up under a search for businesses in Nevada but again, the non-profit does not, no listings anywhere that SpreadPeace.org or Spread Peace Reno is actually a real non-profit.

They claim to be a branch of the internet church SpreadPeace.org which is the same two people, Chris and Tysha Tinney. They collected money from Paypal links to travel the country on their “Peace Tour” until they landed in Reno, Nevada. There is at least one blog from a member of their online church stating that they are money scammers. Chris and Tysha Tinney admit to renting 36 Vine St. Reno, NV 89502 as their residence (on one of their other website blogs and includes pictures of the house when they rented it) and it is well known that they live in that house yet they told the Nevada Department of Taxation that it was the church’s location and that it was not a residence. They provided no documents to obtain tax-exempt status other than an application, according the investigators I spoke to at the Dept.

They are visibly doing things to feed homeless people in downtown Reno. They post several videos, websites, blogs, press releases and more about what they do but they also visibly get tangible donations from several sources, of clothing, food, supplies.
My concern and the reason I am requesting investigation is that they are collecting money as a non-profit but that it is being done so dishonestly, evading tax and not being used for the purposes by which it was collected.

I have attached all internet links pertaining to Spread Peace and Chris Tinney.

I love that homeless people are being helped but I don’t want others being scammed into providing these people money for their own personal benefit at the same time. Proof of their non-profit status should be available and proof that the money being donated is going where it is saying it is going is a reasonable request. More people are now being drawn to their donor sites because Yoko Ono tweeted about the business that they are opening so the potential to get thousands of dollars dishonestly is very likely.



Websites-

Some of the Websites with Paypal links and requests for money-
http://www.SpreadPeaceReno.org

http://www.spreadpeace.org

Their Facebook group page at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=99283178911

"Spread Peace Cafe" http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=255690453801

An entire blog about them from a member of their online church-
http://www.thoughts.com/goddessanastasia/blog/online-cult-323155/

Others have questioned his scams in the Buddhist online community-
http://buddhajones.com/diary/295/whats-the-deal-with-sgibuddhismorg

People who were questioning them and saying they were up to something shady were banned from viewing things...
http://www.buddhajones.com/diary/293/forum-for-sgi-marijuana-growers

Another thread about being scammed by them-
http://www.matrixwatch.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-1619.html

Another repost in a cult recovery forum referencing back to their scams-
http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?5,58575,77280

And another
http://morzh.com/wordpress/?p=18

Personal Website Links for Chris Tinney (founder) and Tysha Tinney (founder) Some with PayPal Links-
http://www.myspace.com/mlmgorilla
http://www.youtube.com/user/ThePeaceChurch
And they ask for donations to help animals as soon as just a few weeks ago where supposedly all of the money goes to a farm?
http://veghaven.org/profile/BodhiGuy
All donations here go to help the animals...
http://veghaven.org/profiles/blogs/1350827:BlogPost:111792
He is the founder of the church he claims is an international church and this link shows that he didn't join a purpose, he created the entire church himself (and if you notice in most links all of them ask for money)
http://www.spreadpeace.org/profile/Chris-Tinney
The quintissential salesman, this is a profile on him (different wife and family and shows his methodology of sales)-
http://www.sixfigureincome.com/profiles/TinneyChris.html
And touting his sales just a year and a half ago...
http://www.network-marketing-works.com/blog/chris-tinney-of-mlmforumscom-traffic-oasis-returns-to-leadersclub-127/

This is the deep web search from Pipl. Many of the social networking profiles no longer click through like
Friendster but you can read the descriptions on the listing and see the pictures to
the right that it is the same man. All of these social networking profiles have the same basic MO.
http://www.pipl.com/search/?FirstName=Chris&LastName=Tinney&City=&State=&Country=US&CategoryID=2&Interface=1

Works for The Balance Company?-
http://www.zoominfo.com/Search/PersonDetail.aspx?PersonID=139085509
Here he explains how you build your business and he's using these very same tactics still
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/07/prweb143734.htm
Chris left someone holding the monetary bag for a domain he asked them to buy so at least one person was put out $700 by him (and if you go back up to the MySpace link, you will see that mlmgorilla is the same person)
http://mlmgorilla.com/
Yet another "give us money" site.
http://bodhian.net/profiles/blog/show?id=1145380%3ABlogPost%3A31626
And another
http://law-of-attraction-for-newbies.blogspot.com/2009/09/check-out-reiki-master-tysha-tinney.html
Post #29
http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=9173
http://rainbowgatherings.ning.com/
http://blog.ning.com/2008/06/revisiting-veghaven.html
http://ebusinessbonanza.com/homebusinessbasics/
http://theyogaplace.org/
http://exfuzeseven.ning.com/
http://garvinweb.mlmcoops.net/testimonials.3.html
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/zattva
http://www.squidoo.com/business_opportunities
http://www.bodhian.net/
http://www.mlmforums.com/sfi-marketing.htm/
http://www.madisondynamics.com/index.php?10502
http://powerfulintent.ning.com/

Well, this should give all the smart people something to do :)