Woman posed as decorated Marine with cancer and stole benefits, donations, feds say
A Rhode Island woman falsely said she served in the U.S. military and was diagnosed with cancer as a result of her service to steal over $250,000 in benefits and charitable donations “reserved for injured veterans,” federal officials said. Now she’s going to prison.
Sarah Jane Cavanaugh, 32, worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs at the Rhode Island Veterans Affairs Medical Center, a position that involved helping those who had been in the military, according to a March 14 news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island.
McClatchy News reached out to Cavanaugh’s lawyer, Kensley Barrett, on March 15 and was awaiting a response.
While working at the center, Cavanaugh “used her position to misappropriate veterans’ identities, their combat experiences, their diagnoses of illness” and their ranking to get more than $250,000 “in cash, charitable donations, and services,” officials said.
Cavanaugh posed as a “Purple Heart and Bronze Star-decorated United States Marine” and said she got cancer from her service, according to the release.
The woman scammed nine veterans’ charities that paid for her “travel to retreats, in-home care, gym memberships, physical therapy, paying electric bills” and gift cards to buy groceries, officials said.
“Sarah Cavanaugh’s conduct in the course of her scheme is nothing short of appalling,” U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha said in the release. “By brazenly laying claim to the honor, service, and sacrifice of real veterans, this defendant preyed on the charity and decency of others for her own shameless financial gain.”
The woman gave public speeches dressed in a U.S. Marine uniform and a Purple Heart and Bronze Star that she bought online, according to the news release. She also got a spot in a program at the University of Southern California by lying about her experience, prosecutors said.
She pleaded guilty in August, officials said.
She was sentenced to five years and 10 months in federal prison, “followed by 3 years of federal supervised release.” She was also ordered to pay $284,796.82 to the victims of her scheme, officials said.
Barrett told CBS News he was looking to get Cavanaugh a two-year sentence as she has no criminal history and she’s already experienced “public disgrace, loss of her professional license, the breakup of her marriage, and even online death threats.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2023 at 11:38 AM with the headline "Woman posed as decorated Marine with cancer and stole benefits, donations, feds say."