Ohio woman gets eight-year prison sentence in cancer fraud

DELAWARE, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio woman was sentenced today to eight years in prison for scamming family and friends out of tens of thousands of dollars by claiming her husband was sick with cancer.

Melanie Chen, 30, of Columbus also was ordered to pay more than $792,000 in restitution to the 13 victims, plus court costs.

In August, the mother of six pleaded guilty to one count of theft in Delaware County, north of Columbus. In exchange for her plea, an additional charge of receiving stolen property was dismissed.

Chen could have received up to 10 years in prison on the theft count.

Her husband, 38-year-old Phylip Chen, also is charged in the case, but prosecutors have agreed to drop his charges if he passes a lie-detector test.