A Joshua Tree man is being accused of fraud after using fake pictures to claim bone cancer in a fund-raiser. Kevin Fish started the fundraiser earlier this month to raise $4,000 for what he described as his “final trip home” to Louisiana before he succumbs of cancer. Palm Springs television station KESQ uncovered that Fish, an Iraqi war veteran, had used a picture of an X-ray taken from a medical journal and presented it as his own on his GoFundMe account. When confronted by a reporter from KESQ Monday, Fish insisted that the image was taken with his cell phone during a medical examination. The X-ray image used on Fish’s donations page was taken from a medical journal published in 2007. Fish tried to put the blame on the doctor, claiming that he must have accidentally put up an X-ray image from the journal instead of his actual MRI. While claiming he was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer in 2012, he was unable to produce any medical files proving that he has been battling the deadly disease. Wes Wilson, senior pastor at Sword of the Lord church where Fish is a member, told KESQ that he believes members of the community may have donated money to help the veteran. Earlier this year, Kevin Fish made headlines here on Z107.7 after launching a campaign to raise awareness about homelessness among service members in the Hi-Desert area. In March, Fish said that he owned a Twentynine Palms thrift shop called “Change for Vets” and asked for donations of food, clothing and cash to purchase necessities for veterans in need. That thrift shop has since closed and it is not known if any of those proceeds actually went towards homeless veterans.
http://www.kesq.com/news/crowdfunding-page-deleted-after-man-is-busted-with-bogus-photos/29911254
