Illinois woman who faked cancer sentenced to three years in prison
A Belleville woman who told people she had ovarian cancer, but was really in good health, was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday afternoon.
Alissa Jackson, 32, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of more than $500 by deception in December. For two years, the mother of five lied to her children about her diagnosis, prosecutors have said.
After the sentencing, victims of Jackson’s fraud are scheduled to speak to media.
It was October 2013 when Jackson first told Jen Huelsmann she had terminal ovarian cancer. Huelsmann and other supporters estimated Jackson received more than $35,000 in donations. Huelsmann, whose children went to school with Jackson’s children at Belle Valley in Belleville, and others started raising money for the family. Spaghetti dinners, raffle tickets, Internet funding sites, parties, T-shirt sales and silent auctions were organized.
The final amount is still being determined and a restitution hearing is expected to be scheduled, Kelly said.
A California couple even donated their minivan to the family to teach their children the importance of charity.
The family was mostly given the proceeds in cash or cashier’s checks, St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly has said.
Huelsmann became suspicious in April 2014 when she noticed that Jackson’s health had not seemed to decline. Belleville police then conducted a month long investigation and later described Jackson as “pure evil.”
Jackson will have to serve at least 50 percent of her sentence.
Jackson was taken into custody after the hearing, but was afforded a few private moments with her family in an empty courtroom.
Jackson had a young girl on her lap prior to the sentencing hearing, which lasted about two hours. The little girl asked, “do you know where the tissues are?”
Return to BND.com for more on this developing story.
Joseph Bustos: 618-239-2451, @JoeBReporter
This story was originally published March 1, 2016 at 2:23 PM with the headline "Illinois woman who faked cancer sentenced to three years in prison."