Lana Rovang, Calgary cancer faker, gets 60-day jail sentence
Defence had asked for probation, while Crown was seeking 90 days plus probation for 3 years
A Calgary woman who faked having cancer and collected about $15,000 in money and services from fundraising has been found guilty of fraud and will serve a 60-day jail sentence on weekends.
- MORE CRIME NEWS | Marlborough shooting victim Emmanuel Keror known to Calgary police
- MORE CRIME NEWS | Alberta man sent to prison for sex assault on hearing impaired woman
Crown prosecutor Tom Buglas said Lana Rovang's actions were a crime against the community.
This type of crime "coarsens society ... it's a crime against society," he said.
Rovang's lawyer had asked for probation. The Crown was looking for a sentence of 90 days with a three-year probation term.
The owners of the daycare Rovang worked at at the time said it is children that are most affected by Rovang's actions.
"The community that was affected is not a big corporation … it is families and children," Jennifer St-Germain said.
Calgary police charged Rovang with fraud in January 2014, alleging she obtained thousands of dollars by telling co-workers and friends that she had a heart condition and stage 4 breast cancer.
Rovang's co-workers and employers held fundraisers for her and investigators estimated she obtained about $15,000 in total donations from people who believed she was genuinely ill.
"She worked directly with these people's children. She earned the trust of these families and these children and she taught a generation of children to not be charitable and to doubt," St.-Germain said.
St-Germain said their business and personal lives have been impacted.
"We lost employees, we lost business, we lost friends."
A member of the public first contacted police about Rovang in July 2013 and charges were laid following a lengthy investigation.
She was charged with two counts of fraud over $5,000, one count of fraud under $5,000 and uttering a forged document.
Rovang isn't the only Calgary resident to be prosecuted for faking cancer in recent years.
In 2013, Kristopher Cook was sentenced to six months in jail and ordered to pay $7,500 to the Canadian Cancer Society after pleading guilty to fraud and admitting he pretended to have cancer in order to get money from friends.
Rovang, now 34-years-old, has three children. She has been in counselling since July 2014 and has saved $5,000 for restitution.
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada will get $15,000 from Rovang to be paid over several years.