On Friday, a Colorado mother found guilty of conspiracy to commit second-degree kidnapping for plotting to kidnap her son from foster care after her teen daughter said she began associating with supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Cynthia Abcug, 53, denied planning a raid on the foster home where her then-7-year-old son was living in the fall of 2019. She had lost custody of him earlier that year after being charged with medical child abuse, which involved lying about his seizures and other health issues in order to trick doctors into providing unnecessary care.
Abcug was also found guilty of a misdemeanor count of child abuse by the jury. Her sentencing is scheduled for October.
According to prosecutors, her son, now 10, is still in foster care and has not had any serious health problems since being removed from Abcug.
Abcug's lawyers claimed that a seizure medication was to blame for at least some of the boy's health issues. Before he was taken from Abcug's care, doctors began weaning him off the medication.
Abcug and her family relocated to Colorado in the fall of 2017 at the recommendation of a doctor in Florida, hoping that neurologists at Children's Hospital Colorado could figure out what was causing his health problems.
Abcug testified that after her son was removed in May 2019, she was extremely worried and turned to social media for assistance in regaining custody of her son. She told jurors she ended up meeting members of a group that claimed to be working on reforming the family court system and offered to assist her in legally regaining custody of her son. She claimed it was a scam, with members looking to steal money raised online to assist parents who had lost custody of their children.
She did not say the group was affiliated with QAnon, but she did say she had heard references to the conspiracy theory from people she met through her activism online.
Many QAnon supporters believe that former President Donald Trump was fighting enemies in the deep state in order to expose a group of satanic, cannibalistic child molesters who they believe secretly rule the world.
Around this time, Abcug posted on social media that social workers took children and sold them to be adopted in other countries.
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