Mom Allegedly Faked Her Son Was Dying of Cancer to Scam People Out of Cash

An Ohio mom is facing felony charges after she allegedly shaved her 4-year-old son's head and forced him to wear a surgical mask as part of a scam to solicit donations from friends, family, and kind strangers.

Emily Creno-King, 31, was arrested Tuesday and charged with felony child endangerment, according to the New York Daily News.

Emily Creno-King (Credit: Utica Police Department)

The woman reportedly began soliciting donations using a Facebook group in December of 2012. When some people in the group became suspicious and asked Creno-King questions about her son's illness that she couldn't answer, the individuals were deleted from the group.

One suspicious woman, whose child was really suffering from the cancer, contacted authorities. Detectives then received confirmation from doctors that Creno-King's claims were fraudulent.

Doctors at Nationwide Children's Hospital confirmed the boy wasn't ill.

(Credit: Facebook / New York Daily News)

Creno-King's estranged husband reportedly didn't even know about the scam and said he gave medicine to the child when he visited on the weekends.

"There was always a doubt in my mind," John Creno, however, told WCMH-TV.

(Credit: Daily Mail)

"But once all the medicines started coming with him on weekends, I thought, 'Okay, he really does have it,'" he added.

Creno-King's bond has been set at $50,000 and she has been banned from having unsupervised contact with her son.

It was not immediately clear how much money Creno-King ultimately solicited using the scam.

(H/T: New York Daily News)

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