This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A 26-year-old Nibley woman is facing felony charges after police say she faked having cancer as part of a fraud scheme.
Lesley Elizabeth Jensen was charged Thursday in Cache County's 1st District Court with five counts of second-degree felony communications fraud and four counts of third-degree felony forgery.
Jensen allegedly claimed she suffered from advance stage Glioblastoma brain cancer, according to police authorities, and she allegedly created altered or forged documents to support her claim.
A news release from Logan police officials did not explain the details of Jensen's alleged scam, but charging documents allege that Jensen received over $5,000 in money or property.
Logan police Capt. Tyson Budge said detectives are still trying to determine how much money she collected, though he declined to say what their current estimate is. The captain urged anyone who thinks they were a victim to contact their investigators at fraud@loganutah.org.
"A lot of the fundraising was done here in Logan," including a large fundraiser at her former workplace, Cafe Sabor, Budge said. He added that Jensen also received donations from out-of-state organizations, including nonprofits, though he could not disclose which.
In late November, the Cache County Attorney's Office received information "that called into question the legitimacy of medical claims of the diagnosis of cancer," according to a police news release.
Detectives began investigating her over the Thanksgiving weekend.
After detectives recently contacted her, and her family confronted her, Jensen went missing, Budge said.
About noon Wednesday, Jensen's family grew concerned after they hadn't heard from her in several hours. Cache County deputies began a search, and eventually found her unresponsive in her vehicle at the Avon Liberty Divide, a remote mountainous area on the south end of Cache Valley. A court document described it as an alleged suicide attempt.
Jensen was taken to Logan Regional Hospital. Police obtained a warrant for her arrest for whenever she is released, Budge said.
No court dates have been set for Jensen.
Elizabeth Leach, a friend of Jensen's, said she began suspecting that the cancer was fake before the charges came to light.
"She contacted me in August and she told me that she had cancer, [but] she wouldn't give me any information," Leach said. Leach, who has two relatives with cancer, began questioning whether Jensen was lying after she kept seeing Facebook photos of her with a full head of hair and socializing.
"I kept trying to get information from her to get specifics from her, [but] she wouldn't provide me with a lot of information," she said. "All of the behaviors she exhibited on social media didn't pair up with the claims she was making about her [illness]."
Leach began telling people that Jensen's "going to say she has cancer and I'm pretty sure it's not real."
Leach and her boyfriend, David McGaugin, never gave Jensen money, but they heard she collected about $16,000 from the Cafe Sabor fundraiser. Even the waiters donated their tips, McGaugin said.
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