Cancer-fakers, poppy-box thieves disgusted us in 2011

Security footage of a poppy box theft at the Pizza Nova at The Queensway and Royal York Road in Etobicoke.

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Poppy box thieves, cancer fakers, and children's charity scammers. They victimize society's most vulnerable - veterans and the terminally ill - and there were no shortage of these sickening culprits in 2011.

Ashley Kirilow, 23, who posted photos of herself online with a shaved head, eyebrows and plucked eyelashes in a bid to solicit donations, admitted to her scam in 2010.

The Burlington, Ont., woman who defrauded hundreds of donors out of more than $12,000 and a free trip to Disney World was handed a 15-month conditional sentence in April, much of it being served under house arrest. But her fraudulent method of raising funds made a lasting impression on others in 2011.

In nearby St. Catharines, Ont., Michelle Meller, 37, was charged in September for defrauding a family out of about $200,000 over a three-year period, telling them she had cancer and needed money for medical and personal costs.

Across the country, in British Columbia, a senior posing as a Canadian Forces member with terminal cancer is alleged to have duped more than 40 victims out of about $1 million since the early 1990s. Douglas Clark, 64, of Burnaby, is in custody and charged with 13 counts of fraud.

Those are just a couple of several similar stories through the year.

"To hear of somebody who would use a children's charity or a cancer scare to play on people's emotions is probably as low as you can go," said Calgary mother Shandra Carlson, whose son, Mitchell, was diagnosed with a kidney tumour at 10 months old.

Carlson said she's grateful to the charities who helped her family while her son went through chemotherapy and is disappointed in people who'd chose to defraud families in need.

"When money is taken away from research or from helping a family in their most desperate moments, lives can be and are lost."

Later in the year a new scam that preyed on charity turned heads and made stomachs churn: Stealing poppy fundraising boxes.

Thieves snatched poppy boxes from stores in every corner of the country -- money meant to support veterans and their families.

"Citizens are just totally outraged by this behaviour," said Bill Maxwell, a spokesman for the Royal Canadian Legion.

Among the hardest hit was a legion office in London, Ont., where 10 boxes filled with as much as $1,000 were stolen by a thief who broke through a window.

"It's certainly very low behaviour when somebody decides to rip off a poppy box," Maxwell said.

In Ottawa, a bank teller was convicted of pocketing $21,000 from a Second World War vet with Alzheimer's.

Tina Percival was sentenced in November to three months in jail after making 36 cash withdrawals from the victim's account.

Meanwhile, a woman tugged at the heartstrings of Ontario residents by selling Christmas raffle tickets door-to-door to help sick kids.

Trouble is the raffle, of barbecues, luggage, a car starter and jewelry, was fake and the cash was never donated to the Children's Health Foundation.

Aimee McGlaughlin, 29, of London, faces charges.

Source: http://www.ottawasun.com/2011/12/19/fraudsters-disgusted-us-in-2011

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