One Washington County woman will have to stand trial for soliciting donations for a sick child.
The alleged scam was social media based. 63-year-old Frankie Louise Yates of Springfield is out on bond accused of running a false Facebook charity soliciting funds to help a sick child who does not exist. Wes Nicholas of California was one of the victims of Yates’ social media scam to the tune of 700 dollars in cash and gifts.
http://liarcatchers.com/fraud_investigation.html
“Just sadness, that somebody would do something like that, and keep it up for as long as she did,” Nicholas told LEX 18’s Michael Berk.
Staffers at the State Attorney General’s Office believe as many as 70 people in the US and Canada donated money and gifts totaling $16,000.
Yates’ false charity dates back many years but Nicholas only began donating in April.
“I never gave a second thought of getting it back, and I don’t think there’s a chance in you-know-where of getting any of the money back. It’s gone,” said Nicholas.
A grand jury has indicted Yates on one charge of Theft by Deception.
The trial date hasn’t been set.
