Here’s another case of child abuse, but this time it can’t be blamed on youth and immaturity. A 47-year-old mother, Carol Lynn Schnuphase, actually gave her 12-year-old son, Christopher, drugs in his applesauce and then shaved his eyebrows and head to make him look sick, and then told everyone she knew including the boy that he had cancer. She got in touch with churches and local businesses, and even set up a Facebook page to solicit money to help with his cancer treatments.
Although not much, she received about $7,000 from people and even had the gall to write on her Facebook page that “Christopher now knows he’s dying.”
It appears she kept up the charade for several months and then skipped town, with the money in her pocket. According to the Daily Mail Article, she actually told her family and others that he died, but it wasn’t until police were tipped off that the whole scam was discovered, along with the healthy boy. Family members were perplexed that the mother did not want a funeral for the boy and this aroused suspicion.
It’s not the first time someone has tried to dupe others into helping them out financially by claiming they have cancer. It happens more often than it should. There are many kind people in this world who like to help those in need, and many others who will take advantage of that kindness. What is truly despicable is that this woman used her own child to scam good people out of money, and made him believe he had cancer. Mental abuse is just as heinous as physical abuse. The child is now in foster care, and Schnuphase could spend up to 14 years in prison for child abuse and ‘accepting money under false pretenses’.
Sources: The macomb Daily, DailyMail.UK
