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Florida authorities have recently arrested the couple who lied to a 13-year-old boy that he has terminal brain cancer so that they could take donations for themselves. Following the couple’s arrest, the authorities declared that the boy spent the last eight months believing that he might die.
Couple Sold T-Shirts for Boy with Fake Terminal Brain Cancer
On Thursday, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office’s deputies arrested 47-year-old Robert Edward Long and 34-year-old Ginny Irovando Long. The couple was charged with fraud and child abuse after the authorities learned that they’d put together several fundraising campaigns for their son who was allegedly diagnosed with terminal brain cancer.
According to the official police report, everything began in November 2017, when a school resource officer caught the boy’s mother selling T-shirt’s at the boy’s school. The Sheriff’s Office was called, and the woman brought in for questioning.
Back in November, Irovando told the investigators that she sold T-shirts as part of a fundraising campaign for her 13-year-old son who was previously diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. Moreover, the woman declared that the doctors observed no less than seven inoperable malignant tumors inside the 13-year-old’s brain and removing them would have been impossible.
As the surgery turned out to be dangerous, the couple refused surgery and begun several campaigns n order to help their teen. In late December, the investigators concluded that the couple could not produce any papers demonstrating that the teen ever had cancer.
An arrest warrant was issued, and the children were placed in foster care pending the couple’s trial. Apart from the T-shirt fundraising campaign at school, the couple also set up a GoFundMe account, which the investigators found to contain approximately $1,000.
Conclusion
The couple was charged with nine counts of fraud and one charge of child abuse. A GoFundMe spokesperson recently declared that the couple’s account was permanently closed and that the company is taking the necessary steps in order to refund the donors.
Image source: Flickr
