14 DAY TRIAL // Nouel Alba, of Bronx, New York, could be facing prison time for impersonating the aunt of a Newtown victim and asking for donations in the family's name, as well as lying about it to the FBI.
We wrote about Mrs. Alba before, when she came to the attention of 6-year-old Noah Pozner's relatives. She was reaching out to the community through social networking sites, asking for packages and money, and made the mistake of approaching a friend of the Pozners.
The FBI have evidence of her discussing donations on her Facebook account, on the phone and through text messages.
According to USA Today, she put together the scam an hour after news of the Newtwon massacre spread.
“All we know is 18 kids have been killed ... still no word on my nephew,” Alba wrote on Facebook.
A few days later, she started asking for money from those who offered their condolences. “We've set up a funeral fund for my brother,” she posted.
The marks would forward the donations through PayPal. When Alba was interrogated by FBI officers, she claimed she had no connection to the Facebook page or the PayPal account, even suggesting she was being set up.
Asked what she had done when she noticed money from unknown sources was being sent to her PayPal account, she lied and stated she returned the sums.
“At Alba's instruction, donor-victims sent money to a PayPal account controlled and accessed by Alba.
“Alba falsely stated that she did not post information related to Newtown on her Facebook account, solicit donations or recently access her PayPal account. Alba also falsely claimed to have immediately refunded any donations that she received,” the official complaint states.
Alba is being charged with making false statements to federal agents. If convicted, she could be sentenced to a maximum of five years in prison.