Woman who faked cancer pleads guilty to one count of fraud
Posted November 2, 2010 6:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MILTON, Ont. – A Burlington, Ont., woman accused of faking cancer to receive thousands of dollars in charitable donations pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000, Tuesday.
Ashley Kirilow, 23, will be sentenced on January 27, 2011.
She made headlines during the summer of 2010 when it was revealed she shaved her head, plucked her eyelashes and eyebrows and starved herself to look like a chemotherapy patient.
Standing solemnly in front of Justice Frederick Forsyth Tuesday, Kirilow said “guilty” when he asked how she pleads to the one count of fraud over $5,000. Neither her family nor any of her friends were in attendance.
She left the courthouse the same way she arrived – alone and in a cab, and her lawyer, Brendan Neil, advised her not to speak to anyone on her way out.
“Because right now we’re at a stage where all the pleas haven’t been dealt with, making comment is probably a little premature for her,” he told reporters outside the courthouse.
When leaving, a stranger on the sidewalk yelled at her – a sign of just how angry people are that she faked an illness which is nothing to joke about.
“It’s not any number of other charges, which I think most people would consider much more heinous,” said Neil. “But when we bring in the spectre of cancer – that combined with social media and social networking media – it’s almost a perfect storm for this type of exposure.”
“Outside of the criminal justice perspective on this has been so above […] just the charges. If we just look at fraud over, fraud under, no one would expect this outcry.”
The fraud over $5,000 charge relates to a fundraising event hosted by a Burlington real estate agent that raised more than $7,000, on the assumption that Kirilow actually had cancer. All of the money was in cash and given directly to Kirilow.
There are six outstanding charges — all lesser counts of fraud under $5,000 and will be addressed when Kirilow returns to court January 27. Her lawyer told reporters she may plead guilty to some or none of those charges, or they may actually be rolled into her current guilty plea.
Kirilow could face up to 10 years in prison.
