A prom queen who raised $17,000 after convincing her hometown she was dying of leukaemia has been arrested.
Nineteen-year-old Angie Gomez, from west Texas, told concerned friends, family and even her fiancé she had just six months to live, and the community rallied around her with offers of support.
A police investigation led to the teen's arrest at her place of work on Friday, on a charge of theft-by-deception.
According to the El Paso Times, Gomez was jailed and her bond set at $50,000.
Gomez is said to have told her classmates at Horizon City High, about 20 miles east of El Paso, that she was terminally ill in January 2011.
Police began investigating in June, 2011, around the time of her graduation, after a complaint that Gomez claimed she was fighting for her life but did not appear to be sick.
The teenager collected donations through the Achieve the Dream Foundation, which she created in May saying she wanted to help children with leukaemia beat cancer.
State jail felony charges were filed in September after police subpoenaed her bank records.
No other suspects were involved, police said.
Gomez's mother, Sandra Gomez, told the Times she was not aware of the extent of the teen's fundraising, and that she believed her daughter was trying to 'straighten out the matter'.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ending-cancer-raise-17-000.html#ixzz1smZbCbCu
This is disgusting and her punishment should be working in a cancer center. How the hell did the mother NOT know what her daughter was up to? The mother, in my opinion, is just as guilty.
Nineteen-year-old Angie Gomez, from west Texas, told concerned friends, family and even her fiancé she had just six months to live, and the community rallied around her with offers of support.
A police investigation led to the teen's arrest at her place of work on Friday, on a charge of theft-by-deception.
According to the El Paso Times, Gomez was jailed and her bond set at $50,000.
Gomez is said to have told her classmates at Horizon City High, about 20 miles east of El Paso, that she was terminally ill in January 2011.
Police began investigating in June, 2011, around the time of her graduation, after a complaint that Gomez claimed she was fighting for her life but did not appear to be sick.
The teenager collected donations through the Achieve the Dream Foundation, which she created in May saying she wanted to help children with leukaemia beat cancer.
State jail felony charges were filed in September after police subpoenaed her bank records.
No other suspects were involved, police said.
Gomez's mother, Sandra Gomez, told the Times she was not aware of the extent of the teen's fundraising, and that she believed her daughter was trying to 'straighten out the matter'.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ending-cancer-raise-17-000.html#ixzz1smZbCbCu
This is disgusting and her punishment should be working in a cancer center. How the hell did the mother NOT know what her daughter was up to? The mother, in my opinion, is just as guilty.
