Mum who claimed son paid off classmate’s lunch debt and used fame to get free Super Bowl tickets made story up, investigators say

Kylie Jean Kirkpatrick claimed her then nine-year-old son used $78.80 of his savings

Kylie Jean Kirkpatrick was arrested and charged with seven felonies (Napa County Department of Corrections)

A California mum who claimed her son paid off a classmate's lunch debt and used the national fame to get free tickets to the Super Bowl made up the story, investigators said.

Kylie Jean Kirkpatrick, 43, of Napa Valley told multiple publications her then nine-year-old son used $78.80 of his own savings to go to Napa Valley Unified School District Food Services Department to pay off lunch debts at West Park Elementary.

Instead, the money was actually raised by others through GoFundMe and Venmo accounts, the Napa Valley Register reported after obtaining court documents.

"After making the payment, Kirkpatrick created a false narrative that her nine-year-old son had used his savings money to pay for the debt," Napa Police investigator Darlene Elia said. "Kirkpatrick actively sought out the media via email by sending them pictures of her son holding the payment receipt and providing the information for the false story."

An investigation into the story led to Kirkpatrick being arrested in March and charged with seven felonies, including six for grand theft and one for welfare fraud, and 13 misdemeanours, 12 for theft and one for defrauding an innkeeper.

Kirkpatrick pleaded not guilty and has yet to be assigned a trial date.

Prosecutors found that the woman actively sought out media outlets to boast the story about her son using his money for classmates. Included in some of these media requests was a picture of her son holding a receipt of his donation.

The child received national attention for his alleged generosity towards classmates, and it resulted in gifts, monetary prizes, and even tickets to the Super Bowl.

The family also received donations to go towards other students who were unable to pay off their lunch debt, but prosecutors said none of the money was donated.

"Kirkpatrick kept the money and did not donate it towards additional food accounts ... All of these gifts were given based on the false narrative of the donation being from her son's savings," Elia wrote in the court filing.

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law that would ban "lunch shaming" or refusing food to students unable to pay their school bills after the story went viral, and the governor even mentioned Kirkpatrick's son when making the announcement.

The story also sparked a national conversation about "lunch shaming" and hinted Kirpatrick's son was seeing this happening at his own school. West Park Elementary already banned "lunch shaming" prior to the governor's law, the Napa Valley Register reported.

She allegedly used this outrage to her advantage.

"Kirkpatrick solicited several different companies to donate food items, drinks or money towards charitable organisations that did not exist," Elia wrote. "She created a website in her son's name and solicited donations through the site to pay for school lunch debt."

Total losses are estimated at $10,000, according to the Napa Police investigator.