Just a weekend? That's it?
A woman who confesses she fabricated a lie saying she had cancer for a charity scam will spend the weekend behind bars after a concise hearing this afternoon, police say.
Ashley Anne Kirilow, who is claimed to have acquired a minimum of $13,000 in fake charity dough, was brought to the Vanier Centre for Women, a prison in Milton, after appearing via video link at a Hamilton courtroom.
Kirilow was arrested by Halton fraud investigators after coming forward with her vicious crime to the Oakville police station Friday.
Police indicate the arrest occurred "without incident" and was resolved efficiently.
Kirilow was charged with three counts of fraud under $5,000. If convicted, she is looking at two years in jail - at THE MOST.
A Star investigation exposed that Kirilow shaved her head, plucked her eyebrows and eyelashes to make herself resemble a chemotherapy patient. Her scheme consisted of dropping by at charity events in her honour, and accepting cancer research donations from hundreds of individuals as well as a flight to Disney World from a REAL, reputable Toronto-based cancer-awareness organization.
Kirilow apologized to the Star, alleging she wanted to pay the money back and that she “can’t possibly give it back to every single person," but she can contribute it to charity.
The 23-year-old, who has since attributed her inexcusable behaviour to her bad childhood, began telling people she had cancer, when she had a benign tumor eliminated from her breast in 2008.
Kirilow will attend another court appearance on Monday morning at a Milton courthouse.
Wow, 2 years? Who thinks she deserves to spend more time in jail? She says she's sorry without holding herself responsible; instead, she points fingers at her family and childhood. Perhaps she can receive some therapy, but I still think she should pay her price in jail (for a longer period of time) - just like anyone else would, for committing a crime. If we treated people with compassion and understanding for their past's influence on their behaviour, then maybe we can understand and prevent the red flags that lead to a criminal's behaviour. Then again, if we just patted those criminals on the shoulder, they would be on the loose - stealing money, raping and/or killing!
Again, this just makes police want to take precautions that allow them to take the real cancer patients and organizations less seriously. Disgusting.
