NH Man Fakes Wife's Death for Money

(NECN: Lauren Collins) - Scott Wellington told his co-workers a very sad story.

"His wife originally had a lump in her breast and then all of a sudden it turned into breast cancer, then double mastectomy," according to Dan Villemaire, the president of C & M Machine Products in Hudson, New Hampshire.

Villemaire's dad is a cancer survivor and he wanted to help Wellington.  

"You know he's got four young kids, anyone who's been through chemo, been through those types of treatments, they know how tough it is."  

The company cut Wellington two checks totaling $7,000.  Wellington later told his big-hearted employer that his wife had died and he had to take a job closer to family in Massachusetts.  Everyone at C & M wished him well.  

The woman was never sick.  Instead the couple had separated.  The plan unraveled last month when Wellington's wife picked up the mail and found a sympathy card for her own death.  

"She called us up," recalls Villemaire, "and said, 'well, I'm actually not dead.  Judging by this letter he told you I was dead.'  And that was just kind of a shock.  And so I called police."  

Police charged Wellington with two counts of theft by deception - his bail set Monday in Nashua District Court at $5,000, twice as much as the state requested.  Wellington's estranged wife is alive and well but had no comment.  Neighbors say they feel sorry for the couple's children:

"The kids always get hurt.  They're ones that get hurt in the process," says Maurice Robichaud.  

Wellington told the judge he'd pay the company back, but Villemaire says, "that's besides the point.  We're not really concerned about getting the money back.  Hopefully he can give it to her."

No word on where the $7,000 went.  Wellington is due back in court later this month. 

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