Last Updated on: 10th July 2015, 10:54 am
The I’m going to fake having cancer in order to take advantage of humanity’s kindness for personal gain train shows no signs of slowing down.
Meet 25-year-old Jessica Vega.
A couple of years ago, she was set to marry Michael O’Connell. But this was no ordinary wedding. It was special because Vega was tragically suffering from acute leukemia and really wanted to get the ceremony in before she died…or so she said. She ended up with thousands of dollars in generously donated money and services, and even took a honeymoon in Aruba.
A few months later however, the plan started to unravel.
Whether O’Connell just doesn’t appreciate free wedding gifts, wanted to get even with Vega for something or simply decided to do the right thing is unclear, but 4 months later, he went to a local newspaper and accused her of faking the whole terminal illness deal.
Then it really gets fun.
After a divorce, he moved to Virginia, but the pair later reunited and now have a second child.
“She’s a good mom, and that’s all that counts at the end of the day,” O’Connell tells the newspaper. “I want my kids to have their mother back.”
He says Vega, who was arrested last week and pleaded not guilty, should repay donors and apologize, but that mental health treatment is a better option than jail.
Being a good mom is all that counts at the end of the day? I realize this guy just wants his family back, but let us please get serious here. Maybe she’s a good mom, maybe she’s not. If she needs mental health treatment and had no problem fleecing the townsfolk out of a fortune in cash and prizes I tend to have my doubts, but perhaps he would know better. And yeah, some therapy does sound like a good idea, but she’s not the only one who needs it if this please don’t send her to jail thing is being said with a straight face. What she needs is both. Whether they happen at the same time doesn’t really matter. She’s not insane, so she can serve a sentence and then get whatever help is required. What would be insane is not sending her to jail as you would anybody else. She did commit a crime, and at the end of the day, that also counts.
