Ohio Woman Fakes Cancer, Scam Nets Her $21,000 in Donations
An Ohio woman allegedly faked cancer and collected $21,000 in donations and now she's being charged for it.
Mindy Taylor, 35, claimed she had cancer in her small intestines and liver. She also claimed suffering from strokes, heart disease and lupus. Investigations show she was never diagnosed with cancer but did have lupus as a child.
Taylor's sickness gained media attention, including a front page story in her hometown newspaper the Chillicothe Gazette. The article caught eye of an anonymous tipster who said she wasn't really sick. That tipster informed authorities.
Authorities looked into Taylor's medical history and records. They revealed she was never diagnosed with cancer.
This led to her arrest and a felony charge of theft and fraud.
Of course, by this time, Taylor had already successfully gained thousands from supporters who read her story online.
Taylor used the online blogging website CaringBridge.org to tell readers that she was undergoing chemotherapy and explaining her suffering.
"For those of you who don't know, last week was really hard for me. I pushed myself a little too much (shocking I know) and wasn't prepared for what the increase in chemo..." she most recently posted on March 3.
Even Taylor's mom believed her daughter was sick. She used YouCaring.com to post messages like this one:
"In the midst of the 2013 Christmas season, the doctors told Mindy that she has cancer of the small intestine (in her case adenocarcinoma) which affects fewer than 9,000 people per year in the US. She is undergoing chemotherapy to target a mass in her small intestine and multiple masses in the liver which cause constant pain, digestive difficulties, and weight loss."
Prosecutor Matt Schmidt was surprised that Taylor could fool her mother, her husband and friends that she was sick.
"I think she's a hypochondriac and that she enjoyed the attention. Even now," he told the paper. "Negative attention is still attention, right?"
Taylor said she was using the money on her treatments and thanked donors for their support and donations. But, Taylor may have been using the money on furniture and a cosmetic procedure, according to bank records.
Taylor has apparently already started to pay back those who donated to her and said that once she found out she didn't have cancer, she started returning the money right away.
Since Taylor has no prior criminal record, she may be eligible for a diversion program that would only include monetary damages, rather than jail time.
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!