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Suspended sentence for Calgary woman who faked cancer diagnosis

Last Updated Sep 18, 2017 at 2:06 pm MDT

(Photo by Chelsey Harms/660 NEWS)

CALGARY – A Calgary woman who pretended to have cancer and claimed to be a Fort McMurray wildfire evacuee to cash in on donations will not be going to jail.

Both the Crown and defence had asked Judge Anne Brown for the suspended sentence.

Jennifer Halford, who is 35, entered guilty pleas last year on seven counts of fraud.

She claimed she had aggressive breast cancer and that she and her family had lost everything in the northern Alberta wildfire in the spring of 2016.

She received donations that included gift cards, food, clothing, babysitting services and beauty treatments.

The Crown said Halford was going through depression when she committed the crimes.

“At the time that she committed these offences, her psychological state was significantly impaired, she had a major depressive disorder and other factors that we operating in her mental state,” said Crown prosecutor, Jason Wuttunee. “She would not be the same as if she were fully healthy, her compatibility was reduced because of her poor mental health.”

The judge in the case had harsh words for members of the public who expressed anger over Halford’s actions because of her mental state.

“Ms. Halford was publicly shamed and disgraced as a result of doing what she has done and I think what the judge is trying to say is mob mentality is not justified,” said Wuttunee. 

Her lawyer, Michelle Parhar, says her client has been taking actions to get better.

“She has actually made a number of steps in the past year, she sees some councillors, she’s seen her family doctor, she’s also taking some courses and has gone back to school and all of that is going to lend itself to how she deal with this in the years following,” said Parhar. 

Halford is on probation for two years, was sentenced to 100 hours of community service, is to stay away from all social media and pay restitution to her victims.