Conner's Dad responds to "Synthia"

My name is Kevin Morris and I am the father of a 15 year old boy named Connor, who plays Minecraft and has pretended to be a girl online by the name of "Cynthia".  In short, he defrauded those he befriended in that gaming community and their is no excuse for this behavior. The egregious nature of pretending to have a rare illness, deceiving others regardless of intent or outcome is inexcusable, reckless and lacking empathy. The care and attention and that went into this campaign is commendable.
Connor has been diagnosed with depression and a mood disorder, takes medication and is under the care of a psychiatrist. Yet, he knows right from wrong and it is still unclear why he chooses to impersonate a girl online and why he appears to not realize the gravity of his actions. The picture he used on his Skype profile is the daughter of a family friend. He had no right to do that either. As a father struggling with a child in this way, I chose trust and communication over monitoring.
That decision was a mistake. I saw communications with unknown people over text from other area codes and activity online that any parent would not approve of. Still, I talked with him and gave him a measure of privacy and that led to the continued deception. Connor also claims to be abused at home as this gets the response he desires from authorities. After discovering this fraud and the communications 3-19-13, I cutoff his internet and phone access and he got a talking to.
Connor was told he will apologize to those he deceived. Connor 's response was to call the police, claim he was abused by me and threaten suicide as he has done previously.  He was taken to a psychiatric hospital to be evaluated where he has been twice in the last two years. He will ultimately apologize and he has done wrong, but that may take a little longer. Do not read these posts and feel sorry for him as he is under my care, a good father, has doctors and medication, a good home.
Unfortunately he has issues that do not allow him to be a normal kid. He did not have that empathy deceiving everyone and although he has gone to dramatic to deal with the deception, I hope he will learn from this and the same message I have raised him with over the years, do not hurt others, don't be unfair, be kind. Trust from others is earned and can take time and is something to be respected and can be lost instantly when you do not honor it and those that share their trust with you.
It will be up to those that were his friends to decide how they feel about him and what if anything could be done there. I apologize as his father, not for him, but that I didn't catch it sooner, and that those treating him can realize the grand scale of his deception and get to something that works for all of us. Please also do not allow what he has done to affect helping others in need.

Sincerely,

Kevin Morris