Rhode Island woman faces sentencing for faking military service, leading fraud scheme

(MENAFN) Sarah Cavanaugh, a Rhode Island woman, was sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison on Tuesday for carrying out a massive fraud scheme. Prosecutors revealed that Cavanaugh had been pretending to be a Purple Heart recipient and Bronze Star-decorated U.S Marine, despite never having served in the military. Instead, she claimed to have been injured in Iraq, a lie that she used to obtain hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent charitable donations and veterans' benefits, according to the Justice Department.

Cavanaugh went to great lengths to maintain her fraudulent identity, even using the stolen identities of actual veterans to get the money she sought. A search of Defense Department records, however, revealed that Cavanaugh never served in any branch of the U.S. military. In reality, she was a social worker at a Department of Veterans Affairs medical center, using her position to gain access to documents, personal information, and medical records belonging to a Marine and a Navy veteran who was battling cancer.

The scheme, which lasted for years, saw Cavanaugh pose as a "cancer-stricken" Purple Heart recipient, perpetuating a lie that earned her a considerable amount of money. Her sentencing comes after pleading guilty to these charges, and the case serves as a reminder of the lengths some people will go to deceive others and the importance of verifying the credentials of those who claim to have served in the military.

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