HERNANDO COUNTY, Fla. – Deputies say two men forced a group of Orlando children to work eight- to 10-hour days in high temperatures with no food or water in order to raise money for a fake charity scam.
Kendy Senat, 22, and Terence Holiday, 21, were arrested in Hernando County on Thursday and charged with organized fraud and child neglect after deputies say they sent nine children, ages 12 to 15, into a neighborhood to tell residents they were raising money for a nonprofit organization called Aware and Active Youth Corporation.
The children went door to door selling candy, candles and dog treats bought from a dollar store, which they sold for $8 apiece, deputies say. Senat and Holiday kept $5.75 of each sale and gave the children $2.25.
Resident Gregory Lessic said a boy showed up at his door Wednesday looking tired, as if he'd been walking for a long time, and asked him to buy something for the fraudulent charity.
"He had flip-flops on and he was walking like he had been walking a long time," Lessic said. "They looked tired; they looked like they were really beat."