A Nevada mother confessed to fabricating having pancreatic most cancers in hopes individuals would “really feel responsible and extra inclined to like and be round her” — whereas she accepted greater than $20K in donations to splurge on herself and her youngsters.
Haleigh Knight pleaded responsible in a Las Vegas courtroom on Monday to a felony theft cost and admitted to mendacity a few most cancers prognosis to arrange a faux fundraising web page to rip-off hundreds from quite a few individuals, together with a longtime good friend and breast most cancers survivor, between June 2023 and April 2024, the Las Vegas Overview-Journal reported.
Prosecutors mentioned Knight’s personal textual content messages confirmed Knight confessing to posing as totally different individuals and creating GoFundMe accounts to take care of her most cancers ruse, and was utilizing the funds to pay her payments and supply for her youngsters.
One among Knight’s victims and her former highschool classmate, Cydney Fink, mentioned Knight apologized for what she was doing and advised her it was like “she’s two totally different individuals and she will’t management it,” in response to courtroom paperwork obtained by KLAS.
“Haleigh states she faked having most cancers in order that Cydney and her household together with Haleigh’s household would really feel responsible and extra inclined to like and be round her if she claimed she was sick,” in response to the paperwork.
Breast most cancers survivor and sufferer Suzanne Duroy advised KSNV she donated to Knight’s GoFundMe and was left “in shock” upon studying she had by no means had most cancers.
“I couldn’t consider it. I actually couldn’t consider it,” Duroy mentioned, including that she first met Knight in 2022 whereas they have been working at a surgical procedure heart.
Duroy mentioned she had relocated to Florida to take care of her mom when Knight’s sister reached out to her concerning the faux most cancers prognosis — and being a most cancers survivor herself — turned her “chemo angel,” sending the con artist almost $1,000 in reward playing cards and presents.
“It’s actually not the cash for me. It’s simply the purpose, like I felt heartbroken for her,” Duroy mentioned.
Prostate most cancers develops within the prostate gland, which performs a key function in male reproductive perform, in response to the Mayo Clinic.
It is among the mostly recognized cancers in males and, when detected early, is usually extremely treatable, although superior circumstances can unfold to different components of the physique.
Prostate most cancers is the second main explanation for most cancers loss of life in American males, claiming roughly 35,000 lives within the US annually.
One other of Knight’s victims, Rachel Riedel, described the fraudster as a “sociopath” who “will rip-off you if she will contact you.”
“It infuriates me that she would reap the benefits of her group, of her household,” Riedel advised KSNV.
Following her responsible plea, Knight agreed to pay $19,787.12 in restitution as a part of her plea deal, the Overview-Journal reported.
If Knight pays the restitution and completes probation and different necessities, she will withdraw her felony plea, plead responsible to misdemeanor theft and obtain credit score for time served.
Knight is scheduled to be sentenced on June 24.
