California Woman Accused Of Making Up Firefighter Husband To Scam Donors

A California woman has been accused of scamming people out of $11,000 after claiming that her husband has been risking his life to battle the Holy Fire, which has burned nearly 23,000 acres across Southern California. Orange County authorities said that Ashley Bemis asked good Samaritans on the San Clemente Life Facebook page to donate money and supplies to help the men and women battling the blazes in California. In the post, which has since been deleted, Bemis explained that her husband, Shane, along with two other family members, were fighting the fires. 

“Shane works for Cal Fire and is out on the Holy Fire right now. I also have two other family members and many friends out on this fire and other fires burning here in California. I received a text today from Shane saying it’s pretty much a living hell out there battling the unpredictable ‘Holy Hell Fire.’“

She provided a list of items that she claimed the firefighters needed and supplied multiple addresses where people could drop off the donations.

However, some of the donors became suspicious of Bemis and reported her to authorities. They did a search of California firefighters and could not find anybody named Shane Goodman. In fact, there is not a single Shane Goodman who works as a firefighter anywhere in the country. 

Authorities said that Bemis did donate a small number of items to the Holy Fire command post in Irvine but they found a vast majority of the donations inside of her garage. 

This is not the first time Bemis has been accused of running scams. In 2012, she reportedly faked a pregnancy so she could have a baby shower to get gifts, which she planned to sell for cash. The same year, Bemis was accused of dressing up a boy she was babysitting as a girl and claiming that he was her daughter on Facebook. 

Police said that anybody who made donations to Bemis should stop by the San Clemente Police Services Station to fill out a report and claim the items they donated.