Let’s say you are stopped in traffic and two women come up to you begging for donations for a baby’s funeral, would you help them?
“They have tugged on the heartstrings of people and taken advantage of them and that’s really what is difficult to understand,” according to Sgt. Craig Gundlach of the Modesto Police Department.
According to Fox, MPD has revealed that on Saturday, outside the Vintage Faire Malle, Chasity Doll and Tiffany Lyon were scamming commuters in traffic on Sisk Road by collecting cash for baby Justin Michael Farrell; a child who, according to the women, lost his life due to a heart condition while they were on vacation.
Eventually, a Modesto police officer arrived and demanded them to stay on the sidewalk.
“As he was leaving, he actually saw the ladies go back out into the roadway and collect money from passing motorists at least 8 to 10 times,” says Gundlach.
That was when the officer became suspicious and began asking basic questions about the child; like how the child passed away and what hospital he died at – not surprisingly Lyon and Doll were not able to answer those questions.
The officer then took the initiative to call the Stanislaus County Coroner who did not have any information about a Justin Michael Farrell dying in Modesto, ever.
The women printed out a photo of Justin Michael Farrell off the internet.
It only took a few short hours on Saturday for the scheming pair to collect nearly $700.
It did not take much more effort for the officers to discover this was not the first scam the deceitful pair had pulled in Modesto.
“What we know is that there a lot of good hearted people here in Modesto who are willing to give money to those in need and we also have individuals in Modesto who are ready to take advantage,” says Gundlach.
The women were arrested and charged with accepting money under false pretenses, defrauding the public and conspiracy. The money has been taken as evidence.
