According to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s office, a mom has been arrested and charged after she used the son she gave up for adoption to solicit money from strangers through GoFundMe. According to a statement shared on the prosecutor’s office official Facebook page, Holly Garcia was charged with second-degree computer criminal activity and third-degree attempted theft by deception.
As Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina and Pemberton Township Police Chief David King reported, Garcia was arrested after she claimed through a GoFundMe account that she was raising money for her 4-year-old son’s funeral. It was reported that the 33-year-old woman was claiming her son had died of cancer. However, that wasn’t true.
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In reality, the young child was adopted by a Pemberton Township couple “after she signed away her parental rights.” According to the statement, police were first alerted to the GoFundMe campaign in June after the couple who adopted the boy found that his photo was being used.
The campaign was reportedly trying to raise $5,000. The investigation also found that that fake campaign wasn’t the only one Garcia created to solicit money.
“Further investigation determined that Garcia had created multiple fictitious GoFundMe campaigns seeking money for the following: an urn for her dead son’s ashes; assistance for her 4-year-old son who is going blind in one eye (and whose father had died); assistance for her unborn child; a stroller for her two-month old son, who was born premature; and assistance raising rent money for an apartment, because she claimed she was four months pregnant and homeless.”
Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office
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In total, the investigation found that Garcia had attempted to solicit a combined $11,350 throughout all of the fake campaigns she created. Before Garcia collected any of the funds, GoFundMe was notified that the accounts were fake and they were shut down immediately.