In-laws say Raleigh man charged with child abuse is duping the public
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- The in-laws of a Raleigh man charged with leaving his children home alone while he went to work say he is duping the public.
Last week, Victor King told a Wake County judge he left the five kids, all under the age of eight, at home because he is the sole provider for them and his wife.
"My wife was diagnosed with stage four cancer, and I'm practically like her only way to pay for all of her medical bills," King said in court. "So, I was wondering if I could get out early and I can still work, so I won't lose my job?"
However, his wife's mother, Princess Burden, said although his insurance is covering her daughter, she is the one taking care of the sick woman and the five children at her Johnston County home since the diagnosis.
"Victor is not telling the truth," Burden told ABC 11. "He's not telling the truth and that's a shame."
Burden said one of the few times the children have been with their father recently was last week when he left them alone at his north Raleigh apartment.
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Yet, King said he had a neighbor watching the children and the neighbor was the one who left them alone.
"I did not leave them alone, not at all," King said. "I wouldn't expect, you know, like an 8-year old to watch everyone."
King does acknowledge that his in-laws offered to keep the kids and he refused.
"They did offer to like keep them, to keep some of them, and I was like trying to keep them all together," he said.
But some who heard of King's plight as the story circled the globe on the internet felt sorry for him, ignoring the facts that his in-laws offered help and that he was convicted of leaving his kids alone when the family lived in California.
With the outpouring of support, King created a GoFundMe page and is raising money.
King's step father-in-law, John Burden, reacted angrily saying, "He's not going to come here and do that, manipulate not only my family but people here, all over the world, thinking he's some sort of good Samaritan; that he's a great guy."
Although King's wife and children are not beneficiaries on the fundraiser he said they will get the money.
"It all will go to them," King told ABC 11 reporter Ed Crump. "All of it, you know?"
Crump asked, "How do we know that for sure?"
King replied, "I guess you've just got to wait to see."
King's in-laws don't believe him and say they are setting up a GoFundMe page to directly benefit their daughter and grandchildren.
In the meantime, Burden said she doesn't know what would have happened if she had not insisted on taking her daughter to the hospital after her daughter had been in severe pain for weeks.
Through tears, she said, "I want her to live; I have faith that she will live."
