Woman Faked Cancer for Boob Job; Charged With Fraud
A 27-year-old Arizona woman was charged with fraud and theft on Wednesday after it was discovered that she faked having breast cancer in a bid to get breast implants.
Jami Lynn Toler, a completely healthy local hospice worker, told her boss and family that she needed a double mastectomy and breast reconstruction surgery due to her alleged illness and proceeded to collect donations after telling her victims that she had no health insurance, according to KTVK-TV in Phoenix.
Toler solicited at least $8,000 since September, after organizing various fundraisers and used the donated funds for breast implants that she did not need.
Her co-workers became suspicious when she declined a doctor's offer to perform the mastectomy for free and eventually law enforcement was brought in to investigate the matter.
"Her medical records indicated that there was no breast cancer or anything like that, no issues whatsoever," Sgt. Anthony Landato with the Mesa, Ariz. police told ABC local news.
Toler was arrested on Wednesday after a former hospice co-worker turned her in. One of her co-workers insisted that her family was oblivious to her lies and genuinely believed that she was ill, which prompted even her grandparents to dip into their savings.
"They were just well-intentioned people standing by in support of an individual who needed it," hospice worker Carmen Klemis said.
The news comes less than one month after it was revealed that 25-year-old Jessica Vega, a former Montgomery resident, was recently charged with grand larceny and scheme to defraud after faking terminal cancer for a lavish wedding.
"It was just was one lie after the other, and it caught up with her. It was very convincing, I mean, she cut off her hair, she shaved her head in spots - and so on. She seemed it," friend and donor Lisa Stoker told ABC.
Similar to Toler's case, Vega accepted donations from concerned members of the community who were at the time convinced that she was being truthful.
