Former beauty queen gets prison for fake cancer scams

Brandi has been ordered to pay her victims back and was stripped of her crown and sash by Miss Pennsylvania U.S. worldwide. PennLive reported she even had her sister drive her to John Hopkins a few times a week and, when her sister was nervously waiting for her to finish up, she would just roam around the hospital. Despite giving up the title almost a year later after nude photos from her pre-pageant days were published, she went onto a singing and acting career that has seen her ear Grammy, Emmy and Tony Award nominations.

Brandi Lee Weaver-Gates, 24, posted her supposed battles – the ups and downs and fears – on social media, according to the newspaper.

“Her callousness evidenced an unusually cruel scheme to defraud people who were at their most vulnerable, friends and relatives of real cancer survivors”, the district attorney told People.

It was only after contacting the hospitals where she claimed to seek treatment did her friends and family learned there was no record of Gates being a patient or having cancer. In court on Tuesday, she pleaded guilty to multiple charges of theft by deception and receiving stolen property, CNN reports.

A former beauty pageant queen has been sentenced to prison for faking cancer and deceiving numerous fundraisers who gave her money for her treatment. “She’s truly sorry”, Weaver-Gates’ lawyer said, reported the Centre Daily Times in August 2015.

After her arrest, Miss Pennsylvania U.S. worldwide revoked her title and demanded Weaver-Gates return her crown and sash. The group said in an earlier statement that they will not tolerate the former beauty queen’s actions.