Dad allegedly fakes child's death for cash

GALLUP, N.M. (KRQE) - A Gallup man is accused of going door-to-door asking for donations from the community to help bury his 5-year-old daughter.

The problem? He made it up.

Doctor Lawrence Andrade believed the man’s story and was about to write him a check for $600.

Dr. Andrade says the man, who identified himself as Justin Michael Villa, came to his Gallup medical office last Wednesday, asking for donations to cover the cost of his young daughter’s funeral. The man showed the Doctor a letter, reading in part “our doctor had given me some really bad news, he had told me that my 5-year-old daughter had passed away that morning.”

The Gallup Herald first started investigating this story and gave that letter to KRQE News 13.

Just last year Dr. Andrade lost his 2-year-old daughter to chronic health problems. He says Villa’s story and letter tugged on his heart strings.

“It played on my emotions so heavily that I was ready to give him money on the spot,” Dr. Andrade said. "Reading about somebody else having to go through the process of losing a loved one was overwhelming.”

Dr. Andrade was about to write Villa a check for $600 but says before he could give the check, Villa left and didn’t come back. He even called the number the man had left him.

That’s when he took a closer look at the letter and started to notice something wasn’t right.

“The doctor’s name that was supposed to be taking care of his daughter did not make sense, because it was a doctor that had left the community over a month ago,” said Dr. Andrade.

That was the first red flag, so the doctor and his staff started calling around and found that other businesses had been approached by Villa too.

After further investigation the Dr. Andrade learned that no girl had died in Gallup in the time frame Villa’s letter claims.