News

Couple Accused of Faking Baby's Birth -- & Then His Death -- To Collect Money & Presents

NewsPublished Aug 19, 2019
By Kaitlin Stanford
The Langs beside a photo of the fake baby dollFacebook/WPXI

Police in Friedens, Pennsylvania, have leveled some shocking charges at a couple that have stunned the small community. Geoffrey and Kaycee Lang were charged Thursday with theft by deception and receiving stolen property, after allegedly faking the birth and death of a baby that never existed -- and collecting more than $600 in gifts and donations, according to NBC News.

The elaborate ruse, which was detailed in a criminal complaint, ultimately conned not just strangers but friends and family too.

The Langs allegedly told people their newborn son died just hours after his birth at Conemaugh Memorial Health Center in Johnstown on July 3. No one close to the couple had reason to doubt them -- after all, they'd been telling people they were pregnant for months, and even posted pictures of their "son" on social media. His cause of death? Respiratory distress syndrome, according to mom Kaycee.

Everyone who heard the tragic story of the expectant new parents felt crestfallen over the loss of their new baby, which is why they were all too eager to help in any small way they could.

Shortly after the birth, a GoFundMe page that has since been deactivated was created to allegedly cover expenses for a personalized urn.

But it wasn't long before people close to the couple began to have their suspicions. For one thing, the photos the Langs shared of their supposed newborn boy, didn't quite look right. In fact, they looked almost doll-like -- as if the Langs were trying to pass off a porcelain doll as their dead baby boy.

After being contacted by a woman who said she was "concerned," police conducted a search of the home -- and what they found was chilling.

According to court documents, they uncovered a newborn look-alike doll, as well as a personalized urn for Easton Lang -- the child they had claimed to have recently lost.

But when police dug even further, the truth became blatantly clear: Easton Lang had never existed.

There's no record of a boy by that name being born at the hospital or signs that Kaycee Lang ever gave birth there. An inquiry at the coroner's office and Conemaugh Memorial's OB/GYN department also came up dry.

The news is especially stunning to those closest to the Langs, many of whom also attended a baby shower for Kaycee in May.

For those who donated money through GoFundMe, the organization issued a statement this week reassuring them that their money would be returned. "This type of behavior is not tolerated," it stated, and there is a "zero tolerance policy for any misuse on the platform."

Furthermore, "All donors are fully protected by the 'GoFundMe Guarantee,' which means donors are protected by a comprehensive refund policy if misuse occurs," the statement continued.

As mind-boggling as this story is, it isn't the first "fake baby" case to stun the nation.

Last year, Laura and Matt Trayte of California were heartbroken after they discovered they'd been duped by a woman named Elizabeth in an elaborate adoption scam. In the end, the Traytes were conned out of thousands of dollars in dinners, gifts, and travel expenses incurred during what they believed was an open adoption. But Elizabeth wasn't pregnant at all; for months, she had faked a pregnancy, as well as faked labor pains and an entire delivery. When the Traytes showed up at the hospital, they found there was never any baby. 

Even more tragic was a story out of Chicago this year that ended in the brutal death of a 19-year-old mother, Marlen Ochoa-Lopez. After months of allegedly faking a pregnancy, 46-year-old Clarissa Figueroa lured the teen to her home in April on the pretense of giving her free baby items. Instead, authorities say, Figueroa and her 24-year-old daughter strangled the mother, cut her baby out of her womb, and pretended to be the child's mother for weeks until the truth was discovered.

As for the Langs, their potential motive for the crime is not immediately known, but they are scheduled to appear in court in October.

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