Mesquite woman facing 95 misdemeanor counts in cancer scam

By Jackie Valley

Monday, Sept. 23, 2013 | 7:31 p.m.

A Mesquite woman who solicited donations while falsely claiming her son had cancer has been charged with 95 misdemeanor counts, officials said.

A criminal complaint charges Shawnanna Starr Flores Guerro, 36, with offenses including obtaining money, property, rent or labor by false pretenses; petty larceny; contributory neglect of a child; obstructing a police officer; and unlawful acts involving electronic mail.

Mesquite Police said Flores Guerro surrendered to authorities Monday evening after a no-bail arrest warrant was issued. She was booked into the Mesquite Detention Center.

Flores Guerro had been telling people that her 7-year-old son had hepatoblastoma, a form of liver cancer that strikes infants and young children, police said. An investigation revealed that she received $550 in donations, including money raised at an Aug. 24 car wash fundraiser.

Flores Guerro had requested her son be included in Mesquite’s Carnival for Cures fundraiser, but she did not provide any documentation of his illness, police said. She also took the boy to a St. George, Utah, hospital emergency room, claiming that he had been vomiting and suffering from severe abdominal pain.

The physician determined the boy’s laboratory results were all normal, and a CT scan of his body showed a small lesion, police said.

Detectives and child welfare officials contacted the mother earlier this month after obtaining a warrant for the boy’s medical records, which showed he had no diagnosis for cancer.

Flores Guerro, who originally was arrested on felony counts, said she was unable to confirm any liver cancer diagnosis for her son.

Mesquite Police ask anyone with information about this case to contact Detective Ron Richmond at 702-346-5262, extension 6032.