Stolen Photo of CT Woman Makes it Look Like She Has 14 Kids with 14 Men

Karena Bennet admits she sat in her house and cried after learning she was part of an elaborate Internet hoax that involved the theft of a photo taken after she had just delivered her son.

The photo featuring her and her newborn son at Milford Hospital in Jan. 2015 was stolen from a news site and placed on a fake story about a Detroit woman having 14 children with 14 different men in an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records.

“And to know someone stole my family’s first photo and put something like that on it ... It disgusts me and really hurt me a lot,” Bennet, 21, told WFSB 3 TV. 

The fabricated story went viral being shared tens of thousands of times on Facebook and eliciting more than 6,000 comments, most of them derogatory in nature. Bennet has one child. 

When Damon Elder Marroquin first entered the world there could have been no prouder or better moment for his parents, Bennet, and her partner Elder Marroquin.

Because it was the first birth of the year at Milford Hospital it received some mention in local news media outlets including Milford Patch.

It was a feel good story for a day, and life would seemingly go back to normal for the new family, but all of a sudden people nationwide were seeing Karena Bennet’s face and her newborn son this week for all the wrong reasons.

Milford Hospital in a release called the use of their photo in this way as being “reprehensible.” The fake story has since been taken down.

Bennet said she was hurt by all of the inflammatory comments slamming her on the fake post, but she never lost perspective.

“I can’t say anything more but my son means the world to me,” Bennet told WFSB 3.

Bennet’s grandmother, Pauline Rindo, 80, said the family is disgusted by the hoax.

“When it got on Facebook — everybody and their uncle knew right away that it wasn’t her,” said Rindos, according to the Detroit Free Press. “It was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I’m having a heart attack and a half. Where and how did they get this picture?”

The family has discussed suing those behind the hoax and stolen photo, but it’s unclear whether there is any legal recourse for them, the Free Press reports.

Despite the anxiety and stress of the past week and the unwelcomed national spotlight, Rindos and family aren’t letting that impact their joy for Damon Elder Marroquin.

“He is my pride and joy,” Rindos told the Free Press. “He is so unbelievable.”

Photo credit: Milford Hospital