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By Shirenna |

Woman garners thousands after pretending to be mother facing eviction

A woman who garnered thousands of dollars through a Gofundme campaign after doing a interview with CNN where she claimed to be the mother of three young girls facing eviction, is reportedly not the mother of the girls at all. According to the report, Dasha Kelly created a Gofundme page seeking $2,000 to pay her back rent before she and “her girls” got evicted. On the page, Kelly claimed to be the mother of Sharron, 8, Kia, 6, and Imani, 5, and even shared photos of her with the girls. CNN eventually picked up the story and conducted an interview with Kelly where she again claimed to be the girl’s mother. That interview helped Kelly raise more than $230,000.

The actual mother of the girls, Shadia Hilo, has since seen the interview and came forward. Hilo reported that Kelly is not actually the mother of the girls but is dating the children’s father. She also reported that when the interview was conducted, she’d dropped the children off with Kelly and their father for a week. Cnn has since released a memo stating that they were unaware of the fraud being committed because all of the girls called Kelly ‘mom.’ “CNN found Dasha Kelly through her post on GoFundMe seeking $2,000 to pay back rent to avoid eviction for her and her ‘three daughters,’ Watt said. “She did not reach out to us. We interviewed Kelly at her home, the girls all called her, ‘mom,’ appeared to be very much at home and there was nothing we could see to raise any suspicion, but, later last week a woman named Shadia Hilo came forward and said she was the mother of those three girls, and they live with her. Obviously, we investigated immediately, and, yes, Shadio Hilo is their mother, we have seen the birth certificates. Now we know Dasha Kelly is dating the girls’ father. She spends significant periods of time caring for the girls at her apartment. Now, at the time we visited, Hilo says she had dropped the girls off with Kelly for a week. When we followed up with Kelly over the weekend, she clarified that she is not the mother of the three girls. She said she originally described herself to CNN as a mother because she considers herself to be like a mother to those girls. Shadia Hilo is understandably upset that someone else claimed to be the mother to three of her children, children she also cares for.” CNN also stated that though Kelly lied about being the girl’s mom the girls do spend a significant amount of time with Kelly and that Kelly is truly facing eviction. As of August 9th, GoFundMe has put the funds from the account on hold and have notified all of the donors with directions on how they can request a full refund. The company says that if after two weeks there is still money in the account, they will release it to Kelly.