Scam Artist Martha Nicholas Faked Terminal Cancer! Why?

Martha Nicholas faked terminal cancer in order to scam money from fellow Virginia supporters. However, Nicholas' attorney, Sam Simpson, denied that Nicholas operated in a scam. Simpson stated, "This was not a scam to rip people off. There is an illness. It's a mental illness, and I can't say more about this."

Mental illness? Well, obviously! Who in their right mind would fake a deadly cancer to gain money without a mental illness? The Mechanicsville woman often wore a t-shirt that sported the words "Cancer Sucks," in order to parade her terminal cancer. In Martha Nicholas' cancer shirt, she appeared at many "high-profile public appearances."

After Nicholas made her appearances as a cancer sufferer, she decided to sell her "Cancer Sucks" shirt for $20. The Mechanicsville woman was scamming people into believing that she had "terminal stage-four ovarian cancer."

Last April investigators from Hanover County Sheriff's office began to investigate Nicholas, but she continued in her manipulation of people's hearts. Why in the world would a woman pretend to have a terminal cancer? Attention and money!

As Nicholas' lawyer stated, the woman is obviously mentally ill. There actually is a mental illness that people can get that causes them to pretend that their child or themselves is terminally ill. They do this for attention.

In Martha Nicholas' case, she was pretending to have terminal cancer for money and attention. Since the Sheriff office's investigation began, they determined Nicholas to be a scam artist. She has since then been arrested as of Thursday. She has been "charged with two misdemeanor counts of obtaining money under false pretenses."

Martha Nicholas will face arraignment on December 19th. Will the Hanover County judge consider the woman guilty of faking her terminal cancer, or will he consider her mentally ill? Regardless, the woman needs to face the music and be punished. If you look at Nicholas' mug shot, she doesn't look pale and sickly (as a cancer patient normally would).

In the world, there are real people suffering with terminal cancer. They need to be loved and cared for. They need to be supported with people's finances. If people continue to pretend that they have cancer (like Martha Nicholas did), then people will begin to tune out and not support the true cancer patients.

Should Nicholas face a fine and/or time in jail?

© David Raphael 2011

Join the Conversation	You are following this conversation | stop following follow this conversation by email