Someone took everything a nonprofit has raised to honor the life of a girl who lost her battle with leukemia.
Her mother, Melissa Carmichael, can't understand why someone would take from the account.
Mercede was 9 years old when she died three years ago. While she was in the hospital, she wanted to help others.
So she started Mercede's Hat Shop.
At first, it was a small nonprofit that Mercede used to raise money to help childhood cancer research. Then it grew into a cause, raising $3,000.
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"She would give hats away to the other kids who were fighting cancer," Carmichael said.
Mercede's mother found Friday morning that the account had been drained, even overdrawn by $100.
The money was stolen on Mercede's birthday, which was Wednesday.
"That just really made me angry," Carmichael said. "She's gone and we did this for her legacy to carry on what she was doing in the hospital."
The family notified the bank and plans to investigate, but in the meantime, friends set up a GoFundMe account that has already raised hundreds of dollars.
"I feel really angry that someone would do that," Carmichael said. "Somebody would steal from something like this."
The nonprofit has donated hundreds of hats to kids fighting cancer and its leaders hope they find out how this fraud happened.
