Woman who faked cancer fined $100

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FREDERICKSBURG, Va., Feb. 28 (UPI) -- A 42-year-old Virginia woman was fined $100 and given five years of probation for faking cancer to raise money for herself.

Martha Ann Nicholas of Mechanicsville pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges of obtaining money by false pretenses, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported.

Nicholas also was given a suspended sentence of a year in jail on each charge and ordered by Fredericksburg General District Judge John R. Stevens not to take part in any charitable causes.

Stevens accepted the plea recommended by prosecutors.

Defense attorney Sam Simpson had said earlier Nicholas had paid restitution of $1,700, the amount she collected. She had claimed at rallies she was a cancer victim.

She had been suffering from a psychosomatic condition that led her to believe she had a cancer-like illness, Simpson said.