An Ohio mother allegedly faked her four-year-old son's cancer by shaving his head and forcing him to wear a surgical mask in order to receive money through donations, the New York Daily News reported.
Emily Creno-King, 31, even convinced her son, J.J., that he was sick with an "incurable" illness and hid the scam from her estranged husband, John Creno.
"There was always a doubt in my mind," the boy's father said. "But once all the medicines started coming with him on weekends, I thought, 'Ok, he really does have it.'"
After setting up a Facebook page for her "sick" son, Creno-King received care packages and cash from across the country. She claimed on the social media site that J..J was diagnosed with brain cancer on December 12, 2012.
However, a woman who has a child with cancer tipped off police in May when she became suspicious of Creno-King and her donation page.
"A lot of different groups came to her aid, very compassionate and when they started asking questions like my son went through this, or my child, my brother went through this and she couldn't answer question, she started kicking people out of the group," said Detective Damian Smith of the Utica Police Department.
After doctors at Nationwide Children's Hospital declared J.J. as healthy and cancer-free, his mother was arrested and charged with felony child endangerment on Tuesday. The hospital declared that her son was a victim of medical child abuse.
Bond was set at $50,000 and she has been prohibited from unsupervised contact with her son.
Creno-King is currently undergoing a psychiatric evaluation where health officials will determine if she has Münchausen Syndrome -- a disorder that makes people fake illness for attention.
Denise Alex, a journalist at NBC4, wanted to do a story on J.J. to help his mother get more patches from law enforcement agencies to turn into a quilt for the boy, who wants to be a police officer or fire fighter.
In an email sent to Alex on May 1, Creno-King wrote "Things have gotten hectic. J.J. just started radiation so our schedule is pretty crazy."
In August, a woman in Utah was arrested in a similar cancer scam case when she faked her daughter's leukemia for money.
