Carson City woman who faked son’s death for money sentenced to prison
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Wed, 05/23/2018 - 3:42pm
A Carson City woman who pled guilty after faking her child’s death in April 2017 so that she could generate money through a scam of community donations was sentenced to prison Wednesday.
Victoria Morrison pled guilty in December to child neglect and endangerment causing substantial mental harm. She was sentenced Wednesday by Carson City District Court I Judge James T. Russell to 60 to 150 months to the Nevada Department of Corrections.
The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Melanie A. Brantingham. The DA’s office had argued for a maximum sentence of 8 to 20 years or 96 to 240 months.
On April 14, 2017 the Carson City Sheriff’s Office was contacted to investigate the possibility of a fraudulent claim of a child’s death and concerns that the child could be alive and endangered at a South Carson Street department store.
Deputies made contact with Morrison at a Carson City motel. She told them her son, then 10, died of leukemia on April 8, 2017, and that donations, including a “GoFundMe” account had been set up for donors. Other officers responded to the motel location where her son was found in good spirits and healthy.
Morrison’s child had been diagnosed with a treatable childhood illness, but she used embellished medical information to convince the child, the schools, and the public that he was terminally ill. Her son had not attended school in months.
Prior to her arrest Morrison informed the public, primarily through social media, that her son had died, his body had been cremated and a memorial service was held in Churchill County.
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