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Woman steals thousands of dollars donated toward fathers medical bills

A woman has been arrested for fraud, after police say she stole money from a GoFundMe account made for her dad.

GRAHAM, N.C. — A woman has been arrested for fraud after police say she stole donations intended for her dad, who needs a liver transplant. 

Steve Baxter has been sick for the past few years. His wife, Kathy says it's hard to watch. 

"You want to save him, but you can't," she explained. 

Baxter says he's been dealing with liver disease that sends ammonia to his brain. 

"Confuses you, and you know, makes you do things that you would not normally do," Baxter recalled. 

Doctors say the solution is a live transplant. He says he's on the list for one.

Until then, the whole family has been organizing fundraisers to pay for medical bills, including his middle daughter Brandi Baxter. 

"The only reason I even let her do it was because I thought she needed to be involved," said Kathy Baxter. 

Brandi was listed as the organizer of her dad's GoFundMe. Police say Brandi Baxter stole over $7,000 from the account. 

"My youngest daughter asked her for the bank account because we were going to transfer everything over to the one account and she never would give it to us," said Steve Baxter. 

Steve Baxter says this isn't the first time his daughter, Brandi has done something like this. 

They say they've had conversations with GoFundMe. 

Baxter is now banned from GoFundMe, according to the company. 

"They told us that the money had been taken out of the account by the organizer Brandi, was put into a separate bank account and at that point, we knew," he said. 

Wednesday Graham police officers charged Brandi Baxter with fraud. 

"If you would have told me that my daughter would have taken that money away from me. I never would have believed it," Baxter reacted. 

While Baxter believes he may not ever mend the relationship with his daughter, he tried to remain optimistic about his health. 

"I believe in a higher power, and I believe that something good is going to happen," he said. 

WFMY News 2's Hannah Jeffries reached out to GoFundMe. 

They say they have a zero tolerance policy for people who misuse their platform and have reimbursed the family to honor some of the donations made. 

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