Couple fake pregnancy, birth, and death of child for money using life-like doll
Kaycee and Geoffrey Lang have both been charged with theft by deception and receiving stolen property after collecting donations for the baby’s ‘funeral’ through a GoFundMe page.
The married couple from Pennsylvania deceived family and friends with the pregnancy, birth, and death of their child. Their scandal began when Kaycee pretended to be pregnant and posted pictures of her 'pregnancy' during her trimester. She even collected presents from her baby shower.
In her last few months of pregnancy, she claimed that the doctor ordered her to be on strict bed rest. On 3 July, Kaycee and Geoffery announced that their son, Easton Walt Lang, was born at Conemaugh Memorial Hospital at 3.11am, but passed away after five hours from respiratory distress syndrome.
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According to ABC News, police later found the picture was actually a life-like doll which was found in their home.
The couple posted a fake obituary online, stating: "Easton’s parents were blessed with just a little over 5 hours before he went to his heavenly home at 8.20 am Easton experienced holding hands and hugs and kisses with his mommy and daddy and being told uncountable number of ‘I love yous’."
They then started a GoFundMe page in exchange for donations.
"Please keep my wife and I in your thoughts and prayer. Our son Easton was born with fluid in his lungs and passed away a few hours after he was born. We would greatly appreciate if as many of you guys could share this and if u are stable enough to do so is donate also to help pay for the funeral expenses and medical bills," it stated on the page.
The couple's friend, Cynthia Dilascio, became suspicious of the events and began to investigate. She decided to contact the funeral home where Easton was supposedly cremated. She found out the funeral home had no records of his cremation nor did the hospital have any records of his birth.
She immediately alerted the police about her findings. The Langs are due to appear in court in October.
GoFundMe released a statement saying they are in full cooperation with the police and have zero tolerance with regards to the misuse of their platform.