Woodridge woman gets three years for cancer ruse, three years for theft

A Woodridge woman was sentenced to three years in prison for forging a doctor's note saying she had ovarian cancer.

The ruse was an attempt to avoid a trial on charges of stealing from her employer.

A DuPage County judge gave her another three years for the theft charge.

Karen Johnson, 44, received the sentence Monday.

Though the sentences must be served consecutively, said DuPage County state's attorney's office spokesman Paul Darrah, Johnson likely would be paroled in three years.

Johnson was charged in April 2006 with stealing more than $16,000 from a DuPage County investment firm where she worked.

As the trial date for that case approached, she submitted a note from a doctor notifying the court she was slated for surgery to treat ovarian cancer in June 2007.

"Through the investigation, a very alert prosecutor discovered some inconsistencies with the doctor's letter," Darrah said.

Johnson was charged with the felony forgery count in October.

At least two other women have found themselves in trouble for concocting faux cancer tales.

In April 2007, Josette Hamilton of Elmhurst was sentenced to six months in the DuPage County jail after pleading guilty to theft by deception and wire fraud.

Prosecutors said the 35-year-old made up her cancer diagnosis in an attempt to gain sympathy and gifts from a concerned community.

Hamilton received furniture and a car as well as cash donations of more than $34,000.

She has been released from jail and remains on probation. She was also ordered to pay back the $34,000 she bilked from supporters, Darrah said.

There's also the case of Ellen Day, a Bloomingdale woman who was accused of pilfering cash from her Oak Brook employer. While she wasn't charged in that crime, prosecutors discovered she had lied to them during the investigation and charged her with obstructing justice.

She pleaded guilty in 2005, but before she was being sentenced she claimed she was dying from liver, breast and colon cancer in an attempt to get probation.

Prosecutors discovered the truth and the judge sentenced her to two years in prison. She was paroled shortly thereafter.