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| Photo Credit: AP. |
A Colorado mom was Friday convicted of plots to kidnap her son from foster home after her teen daughter said the woman started associating with supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory. QAnon fellowerships are of the opinion that the world is ruled by a group of Satan serving pedophiles.
Cynthia
Abcug, 53 was found guilty of conspiracy to commit second-degree kidnapping
despite her denials that she was not involved in planning a raid on the foster
home where her then 7-year-old son lived in the fall of 2019, The Associated
Press reports.
Abcug lost
custody of her 7-year-old son at the time after authorities accused her of
medical child abuse including lying about him having seizures and other health
problems in order to trick doctors from providing necessary care, according to
The Associated Press.
Jurors also
found Abcug guilty of a misdemeanor count of child abuse and will be sentenced
at a later date in October.
Prosecutors
said her son who is now ten remains in foster care and has not had serious
health problems after his removal from Abcug.
Abcug’s
lawyers claimed that a drug prescribed to treat the seizures was responsible
for at least some of the child’s health problems.
Abcug said
she was extremely anxious after her son was removed in May 2019 and reached out
on social media to get help in getting her son back. She told jurors she met
members of a group that said it was working on reforming the family court
system and offered to help her get her son back legally but noted that it was a
scam.
She said she
heard references to the conspiracy theory by people she met through her online
activism.
The
Associated Press reported that most QAnon supporters believe former President Donald
Trump was fighting enemies in the so-called deep state to expose a group of
satanic, cannibalistic child molesters they say secretly runs the globe.
Abcug posted
on social media that social workers took children to sell them and send them to
other countries for adoption, The Associated Press cited her post around this
time.
Abcug said she
heard references to QAnon in passing in talking to people she met online. Rubber
bracelets with a phrase used by QAnon supporters, Storm Is Upon Us, as well as
a website known for posts about QAnon printed on them were found in Abcug’s
home, according to police, The Associated Press reported.
Abcug’s daughter
told authorities when she was 16 she was concerned because her mother had been
talking about a raid on the foster home for several months and that she
believed people were going to be hurt because those involved because her brother
was wrongfully taken from his home, The Associated Press cited Abcug’s arrest
affidavit.
Her daughter
said her mother had allowed a military veteran she believed to be armed to sleep
on their couch to provide security at the time, according to the affidavit.
Abcug said her group sent the man to protect her after the lock of her back
sliding door was found broken.
Abcug’s
trial was not related to her involvement in QAnon conspiracy.