Four people accused of running a panhandling scam that asked for funeral donations for a baby have been arrested, according to police.
Heather Nichols, 21, Catherine Mendez, 23, Chastity Doll, 20, and Jamari Carter, 26, were arrested in Fontana after allegedly running scams in Arizona and Southern California, including here in San Diego.
The panhandling scam asked for funeral donations for a baby and netted up to $1,400 a day.
Passers-by grew suspicious after repeatedly seeing a destitute mother holding a sign that read "funeral donations" with a picture of a baby on it, according to The Press-Enterprise.
Officers investigated on Monday and found Nichols on the corner, Sgt. Billy Green said.
Green says Nichols admitted that the whole thing was a scam that she and three others had worked on corners in Southern California and Arizona.
Nichols said she didn't know the identity of the baby in the picture.
Local
A reporter with our media partner The North County Times captured an image of two women, believed to be Doll and Tiffany Lyon, asking for money at an intersection in San Marcos back in August.
The women held up a sign with a picture of a baby outside the Nordahl Market Place shopping center.
Doll and Lyon were arrested in Modesto in June for a similar scheme.
The image of the baby was taken from the Internet, according to officials.
