DISTURBING

New Jersey Woman Gave Up Her Son for Adoption, Then Used His ‘Death’ for Bogus GoFundMe Campaign: Cops

She had actually signed away her parental rights and given the boy up for adoption before claiming he had died of cancer, prosecutors say.

A New Jersey woman is facing criminal charges after prosecutors say she tried to dupe the public out of thousands of dollars with a GoFundMe campaign seeking donations for her dead son’s funeral—the same son she’d actually given up for adoption. Holly Garcia, 33, was taken into custody in late September and now faces charges of computer criminal activity and attempted theft by deception, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement Wednesday. Garcia wound up on police radar in June after a couple who had adopted her 4-year-old son alerted authorities to a GoFundMe campaign using his photo to seek $5,000 in funeral expenses after he had supposedly died of cancer, authorities said. She is said to have created a slew of other fundraising campaigns, including one seeking assistance to care for her toddler son who was going blind in one eye, and another seeking money to buy an urn for her dead son’s ashes. Prosecutors say GoFundMe caught wind of the schemes before she could collect any of the donations. She made her first appearance in court last week and now faces possible indictment by a grand jury.

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