A Rhode Island woman who pleaded guilty to carrying out what prosecutors said was a massive fraud — pretending to be a Purple Heart recipient and Bronze Star-decorated U.S Marine — has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison.
A soldier salutes the flag during a welcome home ceremony for troops arriving from Afghanistan in this June 15, 2011 file photo to Fort Carson, Colo.A Rhode Island woman who pleaded guilty to carrying out what prosecutors said was a massive fraud -- pretending to be a Purple Heart recipient and Bronze Star-decorated U.S Marine -- was sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison Tuesday.
Cavanaugh claimed she was a "cancer-stricken" Purple Heart recipient to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent charitable donations and' benefits, they said. Cavanaugh used the stolen identities of actual veterans to get the money, according to the Justice Department. In reality, according to the DOJ, Cavanaugh was a social worker at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center and used her position "to gain access to documents, personal information, and medical records belonging to a Marine and a Navy veteran who was battling cancer."
She allegedly stole more than $250,000 from those organizations in what prosecutors called a "brazen scheme."
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