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Post Info TOPIC: Miss Pennsylvania faked cancer 'to con tens of thousands of dollars from well-wishers
Lady Gaga Snerd


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Miss Pennsylvania faked cancer 'to con tens of thousands of dollars from well-wishers
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Miss Pennsylvania faked cancer 'to con tens of thousands of dollars from well-wishers to pay for made-up leukemia treatments'

  • Brandi Lee Weaver-Gates, 23, claimed she suffered from leukemia for two years
  • The Penn State student allegedly stole from events held to raise money for her bogus cancer battle
  • Police say she repeatedly shaved her head and had her friends and family drive her to cancer hospitals and wait for her in the lobby for hours  
  • Most recent charity event raised $14,000 for pageant queen's 'treatment' 
  • Police got an anonymous letter earlier this year claiming Weaver-Gates could not name any of her doctors 
  • Weaver-Gates won Miss Pennsylvania U.S. International in April 2015, but her crown has now been revoked

By Sara Malm for MailOnline

Published: 07:45 EST, 12 August 2015 | Updated: 10:36 EST, 12 August 2015

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A Pennsylvania beauty pageant queen is facing prison time after lying about suffering from cancer and allegedly pocketing money raised to pay for her fake treatments.

Brandi Lee Weaver-Gates, 23, of Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, led her local community to believe that she had been diagnosed with a form of leukemia in 2013.

Since then, she has been the benefactor for several fundraisers, the most recent of which was a bingo event held earlier this year raising $14,000.

Liar: Brandi Lee Weaver-Gates, 23, told her family and friends that she had been diagnosed with cancer and allegedly pocketed money raised to help her pay for her treatment
 
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Liar: Brandi Lee Weaver-Gates, 23, told her family and friends that she had been diagnosed with cancer and allegedly pocketed money raised to help her pay for her treatment

This image shows Weaver-Gates in her newly released booking photo
Weaver-Gates is pictured in her pageant crown and sash visiting relatives' grave site
 

In custody: The image on the left shows Weaver-Gates in her newly released booking photo. The image on the right shows her in her pageant crown and sash  visiting relatives' grave site in June

Elaborate ruse: Police say the 23-year-old suspected con artist (center) repeatedly shaved her head  to make it appear as if she had undergone chemotherapy. In this image she is also wearing a face mask 
 
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Elaborate ruse: Police say the 23-year-old suspected con artist (center) repeatedly shaved her head  to make it appear as if she had undergone chemotherapy. In this image she is also wearing a face mask 

Ms Weaver-Gates, a student at Penn State, first told friends and family that she had been diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in March two years ago, CNN reported.

'I didn't know how to tell my family and even though they were there through it all, it still feels like (you're) battling it alone because they don't understand,' she told the Centre County Gazette in an interview last year. 

She would have relatives, including her own sister, drive her to leading cancer hospitals for treatments and have them wait for her in the lobby for up to eight hours while she hid elsewhere. 

Over the years, Ms Weaver-Gates took part in a number of charity events to raise money for her treatment, allegedly pocketing the cash herself.

Weaver-Gates, who was crowned Miss Pennsylvania U.S. International this past April, also repeatedly shaved her head to make it appear as if she had undergone chemotherapy, local media reports.

After receiving an anonymous tip earlier this year, police began investigating Ms Weaver-Gates' cancer claims and found no evidence that she had ever been treated by any medical facility for the illness. 

State Police Trooper Thomas Stock contacted Geisinger, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and John Hopkins in Baltimore - all places Weaver-Gates said she was treated for her cancer - but there was no mention of the 23-year-old anywhere in the hospitals' records.  

Stock called her efforts to make people believe she had cancer 'an elaborate scheme'.

The investigator added that the author of the anonymous letter alleging fraud on the beauty queen's part said when pressed, the 23-year-old patient could not name any of her doctors.

Arrested: Ms Weaver-Gates has been charged with theft by deception and receiving stolen property
 
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Arrested: Ms Weaver-Gates has been charged with theft by deception and receiving stolen property

 
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Disgraced: Pageant organizers have revoked Weaver-Gates' Miss Pennsylvania U.S. International title

Reigning queen: The Penn State grad (far left) won the Miss Pennsylvania International crown in April 2015 
 
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Reigning queen: The Penn State grad (far left) won the Miss Pennsylvania International crown in April 2015 

The jig is up: Police got an anonymous letter earlier this year claiming Weaver-Gates (left) could not name any of her oncology doctors 
 
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The jig is up: Police got an anonymous letter earlier this year claiming Weaver-Gates (left) could not name any of her oncology doctors 

Ms Weaver-Gates was arrested Tuesday and has been charged with theft by deception and receiving stolen property. She is being held on $150,000 bond pending her next court appearance scheduled for next week, reported NBC News. 

Miss Pennsylvania pageant organizers have said they have revoked her crown.  

In a statement Tuesday, the organization said, '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



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3195008/Pennsylvania-beauty-queen-jailed-faking-cancer-tens-thousands-wishers-pay-treatment.html#ixzz3icNTURx7
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Wow.

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Lexxy


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It would have been easier to just get a job. This is a smack in the face to anyone who has ever suffered with cancer.

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TrudyML


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Wow. Ugh.

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Tinydancer


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I guess she was pretty but not very smart. Did she really think she'd get away with this? Especially because she's so high profile.

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lilyofcourse


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How cold and calculating can one person be?

There was a woman did that around here. See was a city something or other. She took money, gifts and other people's sick and vacation time. She's in prison.



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As a person whose daughter did in fact have leukemia, I find this behavior particularly repugnant, this woman has no conscience. I believe this to be pathological behavior.


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I'm always suspicious of the people at the intersections and freeway offramps with the signs about how they lost their job, have a gaggle of children to support, etc., usually wearing tatters, dirt smeared on their faces, and 100 year old shoes. If I knew it was real, I'd open my pocketbook. But because of scammers like her, you just never know.

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Lawyerlady


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Tinydancer wrote:

I guess she was pretty but not very smart. Did she really think she'd get away with this? Especially because she's so high profile.

 I really don't find her to be pretty, either.  But perhaps her behavior is coloring my opinion.  She is ugly to me.



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Lawyerlady wrote:
Tinydancer wrote:

I guess she was pretty but not very smart. Did she really think she'd get away with this? Especially because she's so high profile.

 I really don't find her to be pretty, either.  But perhaps her behavior is coloring my opinion.  She is ugly to me.

 I wouldnt say ugly,  but she's not that hot.  Not beauty pageant winner hot, anyway.



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She wouldn't have been my pick for Miss Anything but I usually don't agree with who they choose anyway. It's never the one I think is the prettiest.

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TrudyML


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Lawyerlady wrote:
Tinydancer wrote:

I guess she was pretty but not very smart. Did she really think she'd get away with this? Especially because she's so high profile.

 I really don't find her to be pretty, either.  But perhaps her behavior is coloring my opinion.  She is ugly to me.

I have to agree.  Not pageant material to me.   



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TrudyML wrote:
Lawyerlady wrote:
Tinydancer wrote:

I guess she was pretty but not very smart. Did she really think she'd get away with this? Especially because she's so high profile.

 I really don't find her to be pretty, either.  But perhaps her behavior is coloring my opinion.  She is ugly to me.

I have to agree.  Not pageant material to me.   

 I agree that she is not "pretty on the inside".



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huskerbb wrote:
Lawyerlady wrote:
Tinydancer wrote:

I guess she was pretty but not very smart. Did she really think she'd get away with this? Especially because she's so high profile.

 I really don't find her to be pretty, either.  But perhaps her behavior is coloring my opinion.  She is ugly to me.

 I wouldnt say ugly,  but she's not that hot.  Not beauty pageant winner hot, anyway.

 I was talking ugly all around - her inside affecting her outside.



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Southern_Belle


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What a scumbag!

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