Michigan Woman Who Faked Cancer, Received Thousands of Dollars from Supporters, Sentenced to One Year in Prison

A Michigan woman who faked having cancer, received thousands of dollars from supporters and swindled months of hospice care will spend the next year in prison.

38-year-old Sara Ylen was found guilty of fraud for taking money from sympathetic donators and cheating an insurance company, according to the Associated Press.

No doctors ever stepped forward to confirm Ylen's alleged cancer.

The judge ruled Ylen will serve her one year prison term with another five-year sentencing for a different case all at once.

Ylen was previously convicted of falsely accusing two men of rape in December, according to a report by the Daily Mail.

The Michigan resident conned members of her Lexington community by lying about her illnesses, after her widely-covered rape trials gained her a series in the Port Huron Times Herald titled "Sara's Story." But soon after, prosecutors received new evidence about Ylen's legitimacy, reexamined the rape trial, and overturned accused man James Grissom's 2003 conviction.

Ylen pleaded no contest to the latest charges, which included false pretenses and false statements. Under Michigan law, a no-contest plea is treated like a standard conviction during the sentencing portion of the trial.

Former supporters were floored when the story behind Ylen's lengthy lies surfaced. During the December rape trial, prosecutor Suzette Samuels told jurors that the 38-year-old woman's tall tales were like a "cheap novel."

"She's lying through her teeth...this was unreal," Samuels said at the time.

Ylen said she had cervical cancer after being raped in 2001. She received frequent treatment at Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Zion, Ill. the Associated Press reported. Her insurance company had forked over almost $100,000 by the time she was removed from Mercy Hospice in 2011, after tests suggested she was in fine health.

Community members rallied for Ylen's cause at first, hosting fundraising events and auctions to raise money. She received $10,800 from supporters for her various bills during a spaghetti dinner thrown in her honor.