Woman admits faking cancer, keeping cash
2 hours, 39 minutes ago
By Ciara Byrne, The Canadian Press Original link HERE
MILTON, Ont. - An Ontario woman has pleaded guilty to faking terminal cancer and keeping thousands of dollars in donations.
Ashley Kirilow of Burlington was charged with six counts of fraud under $5,000 and one count of fraud over $5,000.
In a soft voice Kirilow, 23, pleaded guilty today to defrauding Donna Michalowski of close to $7,400 collected at a fundraiser — the other six charges will be addressed next year.
Outside court Kirilow's lawyer, Brendan Neil, said his client is sorry for what she's done and wants to move on with her life.
Sentencing was put over until Jan. 27, when a pre-sentence is expected to be submitted to the court.
Fraud over $5,000 carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
"It's a sign of taking responsibility," Neil said outside court when asked about the guilty plea.
The Crown said Kirilow's motive was attracting "attention," but Neil said his client didn't anticipate the crush of media that the case has drawn.
"I don't think this was what she had in mind," he said gesturing to journalists outside court.
Kirilow rushed from the courthouse, covering her face, to a waiting taxi and did not speak to the media.
Court heard the young woman pretended to have cancer to raise money that she promised to give to charity, but kept the nearly $7,400 raised at a Burlington bar in February for herself.
Kirilow turned herself in to police on Aug. 6.
Her father has said she told him she shaved her head and eyebrows, and plucked her eyelashes to appear to have cancer.
When allegations surfaced against Kirilow, public outrage was swift.
Angry comments were splashed across the Facebook page set up for Kirilow's fake charity, Change for the Cure, with some even saying they hoped she got cancer.
Photos on the website showed Kirilow smiling, but looking sallow as she wore a pink knit hat to cover her apparently bald head.
In the picture, she also made fists to show off tattoos on her knuckles that read in black lettering "Won't quit." Other photos had shown a pair of hands wrapped in tubes and taped with needles.
I found this facebook page as well..
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=137241062978558&v=wall
This just makes me SO SICK!! I have no words!
5 comments:
It's not the first time I've seen a story like this. It is very ridiculous. The girl clearly has issues.
Frugalista- This is the first one that made me SO ANGRY thought.. I just can not believe that someone would think that this was ok! And to pluck her eyelashes? It just baffles me!
Oh my gosh! This is horrible, it makes me sick. The eyelash plucking thing is gross, too. Ugh.
...... speechless.
Wow? What is going through people's minds when they do stuff like this? Ridiculous.
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