Penn. couple allegedly faked pregnancy, birth, baby’s death for money

A Pennsylvania couple allegedly lied about the pregnancy, birth, and death of their son in order to receive donations through a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the faux funeral, reported ABC News Friday.

Geoffrey and Kaycee Lang are facing charges after allegedly claiming that their newborn son, Easton, was born on July 3 at Conemaugh Memorial Hospital and died hours later due to Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

Officials at the hospital and local coroners told police that they did not have any record of Kaycee or Easton Lang, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by ABC News.

Police found a lifelike baby doll at the Langs’ home, which “matched the appearance of a newborn look-a-like baby doll” and resembled the newborn pictures that the Langs posted on their Facebook pages. They also found an urn personalized fo “Easton Walt Lang”, according to documents.

An unnamed woman told police that she created a GoFundMe page for the couple at the request of Geoffrey Lang’s mother. Kaycee Lang helped write a paragraph for the page explaining their need for money, documents said.

The Langs allegedly received more than $600 through donations in the form of gift cards, groceries, gas money, and cash. One woman said she attended a baby shower for the baby and gave the couple clothes, diapers, and wipes.

Geoffrey and Kaycee Lang were charged with theft by deception, theft by unlawful taking of movable property and receiving stolen property. They both have preliminary hearings set for October 1.

GoFundMe spokeswoman Meghan Scripture said the Langs’ campaign received 15 donations, totaling $550, according to ABC News.

“This type of behavior is not tolerated on GoFundMe,” Scripture said in a statement. “We will fully cooperate with law enforcement officials during their investigation and we will issue full refunds to all donors. We have a zero tolerance policy for any misuse on the platform. All donors are fully protected by the GoFundMe Guarantee, which means donors are protected by a comprehensive refund policy if misuse occurs.”