Single Mother from Ohio Charged with Felony Child Endangerment for Using Son in Cancer Scam
An Ohio woman has been arrested on child endangerment charges for using her son as part of a cancer scam that landed her with money and gifts from generous online donors, according to police.
Emily Creno-King, 31, allegedly pretended to friends, family, and anonymous benefactors online through Facebook, that her 4-year-old son JJ had cancer and was undergoing treatment. According to the felony child endangerment charges, she shaved his head, made him wear a surgical mask, and gave him drugs, including chemotherapy drugs, in order to perpetuate thecancer scam.
She could face additional charges on top of the felony child endangerment charge after she goes before a grand jury.
In December 2012, Creno-King allegedly began soliciting online donations to help her and her family while her son underwent cancer treatment. The Facebook page she set up contains lengthy descriptions of what her young son was going through. She also claimed that she left her estranged husband, who sees his children on weekends, to “save the lives of her children.”
“Emily has been so brave, courageous, and a true fighter during her struggle. She has a drive that only a mother fighting for her children can have, and it shows through every moment of every day… Through it all, Emily has not once asked for material or monetary donations, only prayers,” the page reads.
However, when interested parties began asking Creno-King details about her son’s lung tumors that she couldn’t answer, she would remove them from the Facebook page.
John Creno, the father of Creno-King’s two children, said he was initially suspicious of the claims. “There was always a doubt in my mind,” Creno told NBC4. “But once all the medicines started coming with him on weekends, I thought, ‘Ok, he really does have it.’”
Creno-King’s cancer scam was discovered when a mother, whose son really did have cancer, got in contact with Creno-King and after some correspondence, she came to believe that Creno-King was lying, and contacted the authorities.
Reportedly, Creno-King took her son to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital multiple times, reporting that the boy suffered seizures and had breathing difficulty. However, according to hospital records, “Each time [the child] was brought into the hospital, staff was unable to find any signs or symptoms of medical distress.”
Creno-King was arrested for the cancer scam and her bond was set at $50,000. She is forbidden from having unsupervised contact with her children, and is undergoing a mental health evaluation to determine of the cancer scam was a sign of Munchausen Syndrome by proxy, a mental illness in which parents make their children ill for attention. Reportedly, Creno-King has suffered from depression for years, and has attempted suicide several times in the past.
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