A couple from Pennsylvania have been arrested and charged with theft and fraud after they used a baby doll to fake the birth and death of their child.
Then, they asked for donations and gifts via GoFundMe.
Kaycee and Geoffrey Lang shared an obituary online in which they said they only had 5 hours with their child Easton before he passed away due to ‘respiratory distress syndrome.’
4 days after baby Easton’s death, they set up a GoFundMe page, appealing for contributions towards the cost of medical bills and a funeral.
“Please keep my wife and I in your thoughts and prayer,” said the fundraising page.
“Our son Easton was born with fluid in his lungs and passed away a few hours after he was born.
“We would greatly appreciate if as many of you guys could share this and if u are stable enough to do so is donate also to help pay for the funeral expenses and medical bills.”
But their scam was exposed after their suspicious friend Cynthia Dilascio called the funeral home where Easton was cremated. She found out that there were no records of the child.
Dilascio then contacted the police who discovered a lifelike baby doll at the couple’s come. Officers also said there were no hospital records of Easton’s birth and no record of his death.
Cynthia told ABC News: “I couldn’t go, I knew that this was fake. I couldn’t go and sit and watch this go on and know the truth.
“I don’t know what their motive was, but to hurt your family and everybody, it’s just sick.”
A GoFundMe representative said all donors would be refunded. “This type of behaviour is not tolerated on GoFundMe. We will fully cooperate with law enforcement officials during their investigation and we will issue full refunds to all donors.
“We have a zero tolerance policy for any misuse on the platform. All donors are fully protected by the GoFundMe Guarantee, which means donors are protected by a comprehensive refund policy if misuse occur.”
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