'I Was Absolutely Convinced of It Until After He Supposedly Died'

What an awful human being this woman is.

Roseville police say 47-year-old Carol Schnuphase raised more than $7,000 at church fundraisers from sympathizers who believed her son had leukemia. A family member says she even told relatives the 12-year-old had died.

Only problem? Her son remains physically healthy, aside from the fact she allegedly spiked his applesauce with opiates to make him appear sluggish in public.

Deputy Police Chief James Baron said Wednesday that Schnuphase spent several months convincing Facebook friends of her son's illness and eventually held a series of fundraisers at St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Eastpointe.

She allegedly went so far as to shave her son's head and eyebrows for the public appearances in an attempt to convince people he was receiving chemotherapy.

"This woman was telling anybody that would listen that her son was terminally ill with leukemia and she needed assistance to pay her medical bills, and many people stepped forward out of the goodness of their heart to help her," Berlin told Fox 2.

A family member who asked not to be identified told the television station she believed the boy was sick until Schnuphase took her tale too far.

"I was absolutely convinced of it until after he supposedly died," the relative said. "And she decided, with no thought, there's not going to be a funeral. There's not going to be any service. There's going to be nothing. I'm like, 'Why?' And she said, 'Well, because I just can't look at his little body in the coffin.'"

The Macomb County Prosecutor's Office on Friday is expected to arraign Schnuphase on two counts of accepting more than $1,000 under false pretenses and one count of second-degree child abuse -- five and four-year felonies, respectively.

The child, whose father is deceased, has been placed in foster care.