Why. Why are departments around the country needing to release these notices to the community when grieving the loss of one of their own in the line of duty? They even had to do it for a DOG once. People are scamming with K-9s, y’all. And what kind of idiot puts up a scam using the name and likeness of an officer of the law anyway? Brilliant.
This time, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department has issued a warning via their Facebook page to avoid GoFundMe campaigns for Deputy Dennis Wallace, a 20-year vet of the department shot to death “execution style” this past Sunday.
As with any tragedy there are always those criminals who find a way to take advantage of the great people in our community who want to help. We are aware of two go fund me accounts using a photo of Deputy Wallace.
These are fake accounts and detectives are currently investigating who the accounts belong to.
A Memorial Fund for Deputy Dennis Wallace has been established by the Stanislaus Sworn Deputies Association. Donations can be made in several ways:
In person at any West America Bank branch to the Dennis Wallace Memorial Fund
By mail to: Stanislaus Sworn Deputies Association, PO Box 2314, Ceres, CA 95307
Or online here.
Sheriff’s spokesman Deputy Royjindar Singh told The Modesto Bee on Wednesday morning that the department reported two phony campaigns directly to GoFundMe upon discovering them. Additionally, he said one of the accounts was linked to a man in Tennessee.
A GoFundMe spokesperson told the ‘Bee one of the campaigns — both of which have since been removed — raised $125 through three donations, but that the “money had not been withdrawn from donors’ accounts.” He added: “When a campaign is started on behalf of an individual, family or other beneficiary, the beneficiary has to be added to the campaign” before money raised can be withdrawn. That’s so funny, because I had three different funeral campaigns cross my desk this morning alone, all of which were created on someone else’s behalf, all of which were allegedly emptied out by the campaign organizers. SO weird and coincidental, you guys.
The spokesperson went on to say that the platform has “proactive tools” to monitor fraud on the site, and that a team works around the clock to protect it.
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Hang on, I just sprayed coffee out of my nose all over my laptop.
A memorial service will be held for Deputy Wallace on November 22, and his suspected killer David Machado is in custody.