Overview
- Maitlin White was sentenced Friday, July 17, 2026, to three years in a Texas state prison after pleading guilty to two counts of online impersonation.
- Prosecutors say White created fraudulent GoFundMe and SpotFund pages that used Chloe Childress’s photos and her father’s name to solicit donations less than a week after the July 2025 Central Texas floods.
- Investigators traced the campaigns to White through records from both crowdfunding platforms, a SpotFund link to her Chime checking account and a recorded phone call in which she admitted creating the pages.
- Childress’s father alerted law enforcement after spotting the fake GoFundMe, and GoFundMe told reporters that donors to the page were refunded and that White did not receive funds.
- The case highlights how scammers can exploit post-disaster fundraisers and shows platform and bank cooperation can enable criminal charges, though public records in this matter do not disclose how much money was sought or collected.