Brooklyn Couple Back In Custody After Skipping Sentencing For Cancer Scam

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Brooklyn couple who admitted to running a fake cancer scam involving their own son have been caught after skipping their sentencing last week.

Brittney Schmidt and Vincent Fina pleaded guilty in September to a felony charge of scheme to defraud and failed to show up in court for their sentencing last Wednesday.

Cops caught the couple Monday night.

Fina, half the alleged scam artist team, is awaiting arraignment on robbery charges. The NYPD said he pushed a 66-year-old woman and stole her bag in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn one week ago.

Schmidt attorney's claimed she missed her sentencing court date last week because she did not have money for the train, but the judge did not want to hear any excuses Tuesday, WCBS 880's Sophia Hall reported.

The judge sent Schmidt to jail and did not set any bail saying, "Jail is the best place."

Schmidt's new sentencing date is scheduled for Jan. 8.

Schmidt and Fina had their alleged cancer charity scam unravel nine months ago.

Prosecutors say they had duped people into believing their 11-year-old son had leukemia, conning generous people into donating thousands of dollars for nearly a year.

The husband-and-wife team admitted to using a real 5-year-old cancer patient's photo to collect money for a fake funeral.

The patient's mother said at the time that friends alerted her to the fact that her son's legitimate GoFundMe page had been tampered with and the photo lifted by the couple.

Then, by chance the scammers walked into the boy's grandmother's office and she was able to snap a photo of them, tipping off police in Brooklyn and Nassau County.

Schmidt, a college educated medical assistant, and Fina, who's in construction, had lost their jobs and turned to heroin.

They admitted to taking trains from Brooklyn to Lynbrook and Baldwin on Long Island to convince people to give to them.

The judge had wanted them to do immediate mandated drug treatment followed by 60 hours of community service and five years of supervised probation. But their plea deal may be rescinded and they could now face up to three years in prison.

The couple's son is now living with his grandmother.