Fraudulent Dead Baby Sham Story Lands Women in Jail

Police say two women were arrested and charged in Modesto, California, for scamming people into giving them money for a tragedy that never actually occurred. The women -- Chasity Doll and Tiffany Lyon -- stood on street corners holding a yellow sign that read "Funeral Donations."

In the center of their poster was a picture of a lovable baby boy. As cars stopped to give the women cash, they told a completely made-up story about how their baby had died. They claimed that they were holding the sign so that they could collect money to pay for his funeral arrangements. Consumerist has more:

...after police responded to calls that the women were blocking intersections, it turned out to all be a sham.

The women, 27 and 20, initially told officers that their 6-month old son had died of a heart condition in the hospital while they were on vacation. But when pressed for details like where the child died, the name of the doctor or the child's city of birth, they were evasive.

It didn't take long for authorities to realize that the baby's image was simply downloaded off the Internet (and that there was, indeed, never a baby at all). Unfortunately, the women scammed $640 before their shenanigans were exposed.

They were charged with "taking money under false pretenses" and "conspiring to defraud the public." Sad display of antics, no?

(h/t The Consumerist)