Woman who posed as sick, wounded Marine gets nearly 6 years in prison
CBSN
A Rhode Island woman who posed as an ailing military veteran to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits and charitable contributions has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.
Sarah Jane Cavanaugh — who never served in the U.S. military — claimed that she was a Purple Heart and Bronze Star-decorated Marine who had been wounded by an IED in Iraq. Cavanaugh, 32, also claimed that she had developed service-related cancer.
Cavanaugh was charged with using forged or counterfeited military discharge certificates, wire fraud, fraudulently holding herself out to be a medal recipient with intent to obtain money, property, or other tangible benefit, and aggravated identity theft in March 2022. In August 2022, she pled guilty to several of those charges, including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, forged military discharge certificate, and fraudulent use of military medals.
