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Mother lies about her son having cancer, accepts $25,000 in donations

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T

Twio

Member
From The Denver Channel

ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. - An Arapahoe County mother has been arrested for allegedly perpetrating a hoax that her 6-year-old son had cancer and accepting $25,000 in community donations that she used to take her family to Disneyland, authorities said Friday.

Arapahoe County Sheriff's Captain Larry Etheridge said Sandy Thi Nguyen convinced her son and other family members that he had cancer.

"We don't have any reason to believe that anyone other than her knew the truth," Ethridge said. "The little boy believed he had cancer. The rest of the family believed he had cancer."

Sheriff's investigators recovered $23,000 in cash when they executed a search warrant at the Nguyen family home on Thursday. Investigators then arrested the 28-year-old mother on investigation of theft and criminal impersonation to gain benefit, both felony charges.

Nguyen has been released from jail after posting a $10,000 bond.

The sheriff's office said it launched an investigation March 7 "into an alleged scam wherein a mother was claiming that her 6-year-old son had cancer which gained her financial benefit through charitable donations."

Etheridge said the investigation after the Department of Human Services received information that the boy may not have cancer and human services alerted the sheriff's office.

The investigation determined that Sandy Nguyen "did convince her son, family and community that her 6-year-old son had cancer and was receiving cancer treatment since approximately September 2012," the sheriff's office said.

Sandy Nguyen's Facebook page has a banner photograph of her two daughters and 6-year-old son in which the boy has a bald head, resembling a cancer patient who's lost hair during chemotherapy treatment. In other photos, the boy has a full head of hair.

In September 2013, the community began raising money for the boy, including fundraisers at the boy's school, Rolling Hills Elementary, and donations by students, parents, school staff and other community members, according to sheriff's officials and the Cherry Creek School District. More than $25,000 was raised and placed into an account for use by the Nguyen family.

"Over the last several months, Ms. Nguyen accepted at least $16,000.00 from that account, as well as a trip to Disneyland for herself and family, which was paid for by the donated funds," sheriff's officials said.

During an interview with investigators, Nguyen "admitted that her son does not have cancer, and stated that some of the money recovered from the residence was from donations [she] received," according to the sheriff's office.

A website promoting an October 2013 5K charity walk and run for the boy said he was diagnosed in April 2012 with "an aggressive, rare, stage 3 childhood bone cancer and Acute Myelogenous Leukemia." It said the boy initially "received 317 days of chemotherapy, 7 days of radiation, multiple blood & platelet transfusions, monthly spinal taps, biopsies, and MRI's."

In June 2013, the boy's "family was told he probably only had 8 more months with them," the website said.

Despite times when the child was declared "cancer free" the 6 year old is "now fighting cancer for the 3rd time," event promoters wrote. The 5K event, which sold out for walkers and runners, was also receiving contributions from the business community.

The mother's Facebook page contains a photograph of Nguyen, her husband and their three children at Disneyland. There was also a photo of the family wearing red T-shirts for the 5K charity walk-and-run, emblazoned with the words "Team" and the boy's first name.

On Friday night, the Facebook page was pulled down.

Rolling Hills Elementary School Principal Darla Thompson sent a letter Friday to parents informing them of Sandy Nguyen's arrest "for allegedly spreading false information about" her child "having a serious illness."

"We are deeply troubled by these allegations and saddened to learn that an adult may have taken advantage of an innocent child and our school community. But the allegations do not, in any way, diminish the concern and support demonstrated by the Rolling Hills community for a child believed to be facing a life-threatening challeng," the principal wrote. "It is important for our community to continue to show support and compassion for this child, who is also a victim in this case. The child was wrongfully led to believe that he was ill, and he was not responsible for the parent’s alleged actions.

School district spokeswoman Tustin Amole said, "Obviously, this came as a shock. First and foremost, we are very pleased that this boy does not have cancer."

But Amole added that there is a "terrible, terrible sense of betrayal."
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U

unholyrevenger72

Banned
And here i am sweating trying to fill out my March Madness Bracket to win a Billion dollars and all i have to do is say my kid (who is non-existant) has Cancer
 
N

NervousXtian

Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
As someone who just helped set up a crowdfunding page for nephew who is in a medically induced coma and has been trying to promote it the best I can as his 2 very young children and fiancee are struggling for money and he's lying in the hospital in a coma with no firm diagnosis and no timeline on getting better....

...she can rot in prison for the rest of her life. Fuck her, fuck her, fuck her.

How can someone be that morally bankrupt.. inexcusable.
 
S

Salamando

Member
People like her are the reason I'm so reluctant to donate money to any individual. Much easier to put faith in a properly vetted organization.
 
J

Jel44

Banned
Didn't something like this also happen recently except the women said she was dying or was it the son??
 
M

Mr-Joker

Banned
Zoolader said:
Didn't know this was even illegal, was it because she used the school for donations?
Click to expand...

Yes she got the money under false pretence which is illegal, plus she cause her child and husband to worry and stress over something that wasn't true.

She's a failure as mother and wife.
 
K

Koomaster

Member
Twio said:
Authorities there are saying that he wasn't involved in it after investigating.
Click to expand...
It doesn't make him look any better - you don't go to a single doctor's appointment or treatment when your 8yr old son is dying of cancer? If he wasn't involved in the lie, I want to know what's up with his non-involvement with his son's medical treatment.
 
kyoya

kyoya

Member
Get the kids away from the Mom. In cases like this, i am not only worried about the emotional turmoil this boy has gone through, but i'm worried the Mom could inflict physical harm on her other children (or even the husband) for attention.

Here she is:

Colorado-mom-Sandy-Thi-Nguyen-Accused-of-lying-that-her-son-had-cancer.jpg


Nguyen_Sandy_1394856659435_3445077_ver1.0_640_480.jpg
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Twio said:
Authorities there are saying that he wasn't involved in it after investigating.
Click to expand...

I'm trying to figure out how that is possible. All that claimed treatment, and he never saw a doctor, went to the hospital, saw a diagnosis, any X-rays, prognosis, heaping piles of bills or any of the hell that is the US medical system? He is either the most naive man alive, or in on it.
 
T

Toad.T

Banned
hunnies28 said:
Is it horrible people news day or something?
Click to expand...

Why yes, it is a day ending in Y.

Shit like this makes me flabbergasted. As one other poster said already, this kind of shit makes people less likely to give to individual people that can utilize money more immediately than through an organization. It creates a palpable air of hatred and distrust.
 
V

Verelios

Member
Toad.T said:
Why yes, it is a day ending in Y.

Shit like this makes me flabbergasted. As one other poster said already, this kind of shit makes people less likely to give to individual people that can utilize money more immediately than through an organization. It creates a palpable air of hatred and distrust.
Click to expand...
To be fair though, a large amount of 'charity' organisations merely embezzle the donations given, same as her.

Still, this woman is incorrigible. And her husband...it doesn't seem likely he wouldn't have known, but I'm apprehensive to say for sure.
 
L

Lace

Member
GhaleonEB said:
I'm trying to figure out how that is possible. All that claimed treatment, and he never saw a doctor, went to the hospital, saw a diagnosis, any X-rays, prognosis, heaping piles of bills or any of the hell that is the US medical system? He is either the most naive man alive, or in on it.
Click to expand...

I could see it being true if he was working two jobs full time to help with these magical bills his wife said were coming in. I guess if you trust your wife why would she claim your son has cancer when he does not?
 
O

Oracle Dragon

Member
So she convinced her 6 year old son that he had 8 months to live, he believed it (not to mention the rest of the family), just to get grab some cash? That's heartbreaking. He probably told his friends, they were probably asking their parents all about their friend dying and what that would mean, trying to understand "gone forever", lots of people crying and donating... worst part is this kid will probably be branded, true or false, as the "kid who lied about having cancer".

Not sure what to say about that "despicable" doesn't seem quite good enough.

Lace said:
I could see it being true if he was working two jobs full time to help with these magical bills his wife said were coming in. I guess if you trust your wife why would she claim your son has cancer when he does not?
Click to expand...

That's crazy... imagine the impact it would have on the father, thinking his son would be dead within 8 months, working two jobs to pay for mythical cancer bills. Probably tearing himself up about not seeing his kid during the last months of his life, yet still felt driven to do it because there may just be a chance the treatments would work... It's hard to imagine a worse betrayal from your wife. It would have been better if she had of cheated on him with some guy who had money, and least it is understandable.
 
T

Twio

Member
GhaleonEB said:
I'm trying to figure out how that is possible. All that claimed treatment, and he never saw a doctor, went to the hospital, saw a diagnosis, any X-rays, prognosis, heaping piles of bills or any of the hell that is the US medical system? He is either the most naive man alive, or in on it.
Click to expand...

I'm wondering the same thing. Since she was soliciting donations from local sources such as her son's school and their neighbors I don't see how he could be completely unaware of what was going on. If he was in on it though, he's a better liar than she is.
 
F

Foffy

Banned
This is some scumfuckery. People take cancer seriously because it's a life threatening illness, and yet she has the balls to play the lying game with it? Fuck her.
 
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