Bride fakes cancer to get wedding
NEW YORK (BDCi) – After allegedly lying about having terminal cancer so she could have a dream wedding and free honeymoon, a 25 year-old woman is being charged with fraud.
Jessica Vega was indicted Monday (9) on five counts of grand larceny as well as one count of scheme to defraud.
She is accused of deceiving her upstate community by claiming she was suffering from acute myeloid leukemia, adding that her “dying wish” was to marry her daughter’s father, Michael O’Connell.
After she received media coverage and support from friends as well as strangers, community leaders gathered to help the terminal woman and found her a dress, donated funds for a wedding and even covered the cost for a honeymoon.
The couple wed in May 2010 but four months later, O’Connell began getting suspicious and contacted Vega’s doctor’s office.
He was informed that she was never a patient there.
O’Connell called the Time Herald-Record and broke the story to them, the same story that prompted Vega’s indictment.
The couple divorced and O’Connell moved to Virginia.
According to the paper, Vega met him there and the two hand another child.
O’Connell says Vega needs mental health treatment, not prison time.
She faces up to four years for each felony charge and is expected back in court on April 20.
By: Diego Díaz
Source: KTLA
Photo: Times Herald-Record
10 April 2012
8:25 p.m. P.D.T.