North Strabane Woman Charged With Faking Cancer Treatments Pleads Not Guilty

A North Strabane Township woman charged with faking cancer treatments pleaded not guilty and waived her right to a preliminary hearing Friday before District Judge Jay Weller.

Deborah Lynn Brown, 50, of 229 Dicio St., was with two counts of insurance fraud, two counts of theft by deception and one count of tampering with records after investigators with the state Attorney General’s office said she altered paperwork to fraudulantly obtain $100,000 in insurance benefits for a bogus cancer diagnosis.

According to the criminal complaint, Brown in 2003 sought out a cancer insurance policy through AFLAC.

The policy allowed for direct monetary benefits if she was diagnosed with a type of internal cancer. According to a press release from the state Attorney General's office back in December, the payments are based on the costs of treatment—and that between August 2006 and May 2008 Brown reportedly submitted altered documents and billings statements to the company.

Those documents indicated Brown had undergone treatments such as blood transfusions and chemotherapy that she had said were administered to her husband.

The criminal complaint indicates Brown's husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2006, but that he had surgery prior to the purchase of the policy and that he neither needed nor received any other treatments.

Brown had been diagnosed in the spring of 2007 with lipoma, which is a benign fatty tissue.  According to complain, Brown altered paperwork from to instead show a diagnosis liposarcoma—a type of cancer. 

Brian Frederick Levine, an attorney based in New Castle, is representing Brown.