Woman Fakes Breast Cancer, Sentenced To 3 1/2 Years In Prison

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (CBS/AP) A Chattanooga woman was sentenced to 42 months in prison after she swindled friends, co-workers and cancer support groups out of $54,000 in her attention-seeking ploy to convince them she was diagnosed with cancer.

Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole showed no mercy to 39-year-old Keele Maynor during a four-hour hearing, in which prosecutors pushed for a probation sentence that would enable Maynor to work off her debt.

But the judge thought otherwise.

"It seems like to me some confinement is necessary," Poole said. And it's confinement she will get, along with 10 years of probation. Officials immediately took Maynor, a mother of three, into custody following her sentencing.

Maynor appeared remorseful for her actions, and in tearful testimony she claimed that she was sorry for "hurting so many people." Maynor reportedly went to extreme measures to mislead those around her, including shaving her head. She was also the recipient of more than $4,000 of proceeds following a silent charity auction held in her honor. According to Maynor, she spent the money on Christmas gifts for her children.

Maynor had previously pleaded guilty to theft and forgery in a deal with prosecutors.

Why would someone want to fake terminal cancer?

Maynor summed up her deceitful plan in her testimony when she said she felt "unloved." She continued to say she was emotionally abused by her mother during her adolescence and sexually abused by her stepbrother.

"I will spend the rest of my life trying to make my wrong right," she declared.

Assistant District Attorney Neal Pinkston said the prison time was befitting Maynor's fraudulent crimes, in which she fooled friends, co-workers and support groups like the Breast Cancer Network of Strength, a church and high school football booster club.

Her self-proclaimed "charade" came to an end in 2008 when Maynor confessed to her wrongdoings in an e-mail after she left her job in the city's regional planning department.