Woman Caught in Charity Scam

Nouel Alba, a 37-year-old woman who lives in the Bronx, has been accused of scamming people out of money by falsely claiming that she is an aunt of one of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims.

Noah Pozner was one of the twenty schoolchildren who were killed in the shooting committed by Adam Lanza last December. Alba posted pictures of the young boy on a Facebook page that requested donations for his funeral costs. She received $240 from donors to her PayPal account from December 14-December 20.

Alba was arrested from her home and charged with one count of making statements to federal agents on December 27. She has now been indicted this Tuesday on charges of scheming to defraud and identity theft.

She has denied all claims that she was involved in the con, despite ample proof that her personal email accounts were used for messages that concerned Noah’s funeral. Alba simply stated that it was not she who sent the emails.

Charity scams like this happen frequently, unfortunately. Criminals take advantage of other people’s sympathy and vulnerability and use them to make profit. Alba was caught quickly enough, before she made significant amounts of money; but it is still wrong that she made any money from this.

The real family of Noah also must deal with this issue. Not only has it lost the young boy to a terrible tragedy, but it must witness someone attempting to use Noah to earn illegitimate funds. As if the family has not already been through enough.

Alba faces the legal consequences of her actions now. Her crimes will grant her jail time and hefty fines.