Nouel Alba
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Some people will try to take advantage of any situation for financial gain, even the murder of an innocent child.
Police arrested 37-year old Bronx, New York resident Nouel Alba Thursday after she set up a funeral fund for six-year old Newtown. Connecticut shooting victim Noah Pozner by pretending to be his aunt.
Noah was one of 20 children murdered earlier this month at Sandy Hook elementary school.
Noah Pozner
Authorities say Alba set up the scam using her Facebook account, which was under the user name Victorian Glam Fairys, according to the New York Daily News. She began sending messages tying herself to the tragedy just hours after it occurred on December 14.
“All this killing and shooting this entire week is just crazy,” she posted at 1:14 p.m., according to the FBI. “Praying for those families and all the kids who are effected (sic) by this today. My heart goes out to those little innocent kids.”
Just 15 minutes later, she wrote that her nephew was one of the tiny victims and claimed to have provided law enforcement officers with pictures to help identify him. The next day, Alba, a mother, continued the twisted scheme by asking heartbroken people for cash.
“We’ve set up a funeral fund for my brother and families,” she posted on her profile before including PayPal and bank information to accept donations. “We like to thank everyone for your prayers,” she wrote. “We ask that you continue to not just pray for us, but for the families who have lost their kid.”
Nouel Alba leaves federal court in Hartford. Alba was arraigned Thursday in U.S. District Court in Hartford and released after posting $50,000 bail.
Alba even told one donor that she had to go to the elementary school to identify her nephew's body and hugged President Obama before he gave his speech there. She said she couldn't bear to see her nephew in a casket: "11 gun shots in his little body," she wrote, according to the complaint.
"I'm disgusted by it. I think it's disgusting behavior," Noah's uncle told NBC. "She's trying to turn a profit on a horrible tragedy. On the death of 6-year old kids. It's just a horrible thing to be doing."
Veronika Pozner, right, at the funeral for her son Noah, 6, the youngest of the 26 victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
Alba is charged with lying to FBI agents. If convicted, she faces a maximum prison term of five years and a fine of up to $250,000.
Sources: Associated Press and New York Daily News
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