They hosted fundraisers
in her honor, drove her to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore for
treatment, and even had her carried across the finish line of a race.
But friends and family of Brandi Lee Weaver-Gates,
24, started to get suspicious when she insisted on attending her
chemotherapy treatments alone and her hair grew back after she shaved
her head.
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.
Weaver-Gates
was sentenced to two to four years in prison and five years of
probation Tuesday after pleading guilty to multiple charges of theft by
deception and receiving stolen property, according to court documents.
Weaver-Gates admitted in court to
raising over $30,000 and defrauding 150 people in her scheme, many of
whom had cancer themselves.
"This
was the ultimate betrayal of our giving community and those who
actually battle cancer and their loved ones," District Attorney Stacy
Parks Miller said in a news release. "She actually stole that time and
money from giving people who were actually suffering from cancer, some
of whom lived near her and have since passed."
Weaver-Gates, who was initially charged last August, in court acknowledged her fraud and apologized to her victims.
"She pledged to pay everyone back and promised she had a plan and wanted to be held accountable," Parks Miller said.
After her arrest, Miss Pennsylvania U.S. International revoked her title and demanded Weaver-Gates return her crown and sash.
"When
you deceive the public and take people's money that is under the
pretense of fraud, we will not tolerate those actions," said a statement
from the pageant organizers Butler's Beauties in August.
CNN reached out to Weaver-Gates' lawyer, Deborah Lux, but did not receive an immediate response.
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