A former Miss Pennsylvania U.S. International was arrested for falsely stating that she had cancer and taking money from people who thought they were helping her out.
Brandi Lee Weaves-Gates, now aged 23, is a former beauty queen who started to pose as a cancer patient in 2013. She told people that she had been diagnosed with lymphocytic leukemia after she won the beauty contest.
According to the authorities involved in the case, she was so convincing that she even had her family members take her to various hospitals that were famous for treating cancer patients, such as John’s Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore.
While they waited for her, she would hide in various places and make them believe she was being treated for the disease. To make the story more credible, she shaved her head more than once to convince people that she was very sick.
The good-willed people in her community felt very sorry for the beautiful Miss Pennsylvania and started collecting money for her to get the best treatment possible. It was reported that about $ 14,000 had been collected by April. She gladly received large sums of money from these charities and not once did she have the dignity to admit to what she had been doing.
However, after a fundraiser asked her to name a few of the doctors that had treated her and she wasn’t able to do that, suspicions started to arise. It was not long before the police got an anonymous letter in which she was accused of having faked cancer and of having scammed a lot of people.
“When confronted with what the investigation revealed the accused advised that she did not want to incriminate herself and invoked her right to an attorney,” said the police.
An investigation was initiated and it was soon revealed that she hadn’t been treated in any of the clinics and hospitals she had been to.
The Pageant directors also issued a statement saying that they are going to withdraw her Miss Pennsylvania title: “Effectively immediately, Ms. Weaver-Gates is no longer a representative of the Miss Pennsylvania U.S. International organization and will be required to return her crown and sash upon her release from being detained.”
The beauty queen was charged with receiving stolen property and theft by deception. She is now at the Centre County Correctional Facility.
&Image Source: wreg
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