Woman Faked Breast Cancer to Bilk $100,000 from Supporters

LOS ANGELES, CA - A 37-year-old woman who prosecutors said netted more than $100,000 by convincing dozens of people that she had breast cancer pleaded no contest Monday to grand theft.

Lacy Johnson is set to be sentenced on Feb. 16.

The District Attorney's Office could not immediately provide information on the sentence negotiated in return for Johnson's plea.

She was originally charged with four counts of obtaining money by false pretenses and one count each of grand theft and first-degree residential burglary, all of which could have landed her a sentence of up to nine years and four months in prison had she gone to trial and been convicted.

Prosecutors said Johnson ran her con between 2010 and 2013, telling victims that she needed money to get treatment for breast cancer. She did not have the disease and may have bilked money from more than 50 victims, authorities said.

Johnson was arrested in 2013 and extradited from her home in Colorado.

City News Service; Photo: Shutterstock