WINTERSVILLE, OH (WTRF) - The Wintersville Volunteer Fire Department was forced to shut down its online raffle sales this week after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from the Ohio Attorney General's Office.

The department has been operating online raffles since March 2024 to raise money to upgrade their fire trucks and other equipment.

Over that time, the fundraising effort has gained the attention of people from all over the U.S.

“We started off very basic,” Wintersville VFD Fire Chief Rob Herrington said. "Gradually, it built up to more. We began raffling merchandise. Then, we got connected with a social media guy in Pittsburgh and he helped us spread the word about the car raffles, and it just got bigger.”

Herrington says the attorney general’s office first reached out to them in

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