Lesley Jensen allegedly said she had an aggressive form of brain cancer and raised thousands of dollars through community fundraisers and online donations. (Photo credit: GoFundMe.com)
A Utah woman allegedly faked having brain cancer to trick her colleagues and neighbors into donating thousands of dollars for her alleged treatment, fox6now.com reported.
Police say Lesley Jensen, a waitress in Nibley, Utah, raised over $3,000 in a matter of days last month on her GoFundMe account to help treat grade 4 gliobastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, which she said she had. She also allegedly raised money through a local crowdfunding website, Cache County Cares for Cancer, and through donations from coworkers through the Cache Valley for Hope Cancer Foundation.
“Lesley went through a series of efforts to legitimize her claims of cancer, which included forged documents,” police Chief Gary Jensen, of the Logan Police Department, told FOX13, Fox 6’s sister site.
The Cache Valley for Hope Cancer Foundation posted a statement on its website, noting that it is cooperating with the police department’s investigation.
“While we wait for that investigation to be completed, however, we already have begun our own internal examination of the policies and procedures in place that have worked so well to help hundreds of people in our community,” the organization wrote. “We are looking closely at all the protocols we have in place, and we will make any changes necessary to ensure that oversight is meticulous, comprehensive and completely open to public scrutiny.”
According to FOX13, Jensen has been charged with five counts of suspected fraud, five counts of communications fraud and four counts of forgery.
Jensen’s parents reported her missing in December. Police found her in a remote mountainous area of Cache Valley, Utah.
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