Hearing Postponed For Mom Who Faked Son's Cancer
A hearing for a Roseville woman accused of faking her son's cancer has been postponed until next month.
Attorneys are awaiting more test results on Carol Schnuphase who is charged with fraud and child abuse. The hearing will determine if Schnuphase will stand trial.
Police began their investigation over the summer after a tip from a relative. Investigators sought the child abuse charges because Schnuphase allegedly drugged her son and shaved his head and eyebrows to make it look like he had cancer.
To lend credibility to her claim, Schnuphase is accused of feeding him opiate-laced food to make him seem sick.
Investigators say Schnuphase held fundraisers in order to swindle money from friends and family members to supposedly help with medical bills. During that time, she allegedly took $7,500 in donations. Eventually, the she claimed her son died from the cancer, but said she'd decided not to have a funeral.
Schnuphase's defense attorney Dominc Greco said the tests will determine if his client is mentally competent to understand the charges against her.
Greco said Schnuphase wants desperately to see her son, who is now in foster care.
"I have no doubt in my mind that she loves her child more than anything else, and anything she's done has been to try to take care of her child the best way that she knows how," he said.
A cousin, Patrick Kelsh said he believes Schnuphase knew what she was doing, "She dragged it out for six month. So, there's really… no question in my mind that she's guilty," Kelsh said. "Clearly there's something going on in her head because no sane person would do what she did," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
