• 11
  • April
    2012

Orange County prosecutors say a woman who received a wedding dress, a honeymoon in Aruba, cash and more from well-wishers who believed she was dying of leukemia has been indicted and arrested for felony fraud and larceny.

The 25-year-old was arrested in Virginia on six felonies and a misdemeanor and extradited to Orange County last week. She pleaded not guilty to the charges.

She's accused of grand larceny and other charges after getting married two years ago and allegedly telling a bridal shop owner she was terminally ill. The shop owner donated a wedding dress to the woman she believed was fulfilling a dying wish of marrying the father of her child.

A few months after the wedding, the marriage fell apart, and the woman's husband apparently told the Times Herald-Record that his wife wasn't dying or stricken with leukemia.

The former husband reportedly says he wasn't part of the alleged ruse and that he came forward after learning of it.

According to Orange County's prosecutor, the fraud began the day the woman entered a Wallkill bridal shop and told a shop owner that her hair was short due to cancer treatments. The owner then started the effort to provide the bride with a wedding and honeymoon.

The couple received plane tickets to their dream honeymoon in Aruba, a hotel room there, plus cash. The bride was given a wedding dress, shoes and other items, according to the prosecutor.

Her ex-husband, with whom she has two children, says "she's a good mom, and that's all that counts at the end of the day."

Source: Los Angeles Times: "Free wedding, now free jail time? Bride accused of faking cancer," Tina Susman, April 11, 2012