- Text
Cancer fraud got man Disneyland vacation, say Utah police
Disney characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie pose at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif.
/ HECTOR MATA/AFP/Getty(CBS/AP) SALT LAKE CITY - A Utah man has been charged with fraud after he allegedly faked terminal cancer and got a family trip to Disneyland out of the deal.
Authorities say a Mormon congregation threw a fundraiser for Jeffrey Averett of South Jordan in September 2011 to send him and his family on a "final" vacation.
Police say they found transactions at Southern California cities and Disneyland between Sept. 21 and Sept. 26 of last year.
They say they identified $1,700 in donated money in bank accounts held by Averett and his wife.
Court documents show Averett, 46, was charged with felony communications fraud last Thursday.
The charge was filed after detectives say they checked medical records and determined Averett didn't have cancer and wasn't terminally ill.
- Report: Dogs removed from kidnap suspect Castro's home
- Meeting Jodi Arias: First impressions never lie, or do they?
- Ariel Castro's lawyer says he'll plead not guilty
- Jodi Arias jury finds killing merits possible death penalty
- Creighton Univ. professor, wife, found slain in Omaha home
- 'Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker' arrested
- "The War in Chicago": A 48 Hours investigation
- 17-year-old charged with murdering two Ohio brothers
- Arias jury hears of anguish from murder victim's family
- Defense lawyer: Jodi Arias will speak "about who she is"
- Cops: Hofstra student died in police-involved shooting
- Cops: DNA confirms remains those of Ga. college freshman
- Boy, 12, appears in court in sister's fatal stabbing
- Berlusconi "bunga bunga" parties detailed at Italian trial
- Texas woman's body found 2 days after 911 call
- Jodi Arias: A timeline of a sensational murder case
