Sarah Jane Cavanaugh: Woman who posed as 'wounded' US Marine veteran gets nearly 6 years in prison
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND: Sarah Jane Cavanaugh, a Rhode Island woman who posed as a sick, wounded US Marine has been sent to jail. She has now been charged with using forged or counterfeited military discharge certificates, wire fraud, fraudulently holding as a medal recipient with the intent to obtain money, property or other tangible benefit and aggravated identity theft in March 2022. The woman claimed to be a 'Purple Heart' and 'Bronze Star' decorated Marine and was wounded by an IED in Iraq.
The 35-year-old pleaded guilty to several charges, including wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, forged military discharge certificate, and fraudulent use of military medals. On Tuesday, March 14, the court sentenced Cavanaugh to 70 months behind the bars which will be followed by supervised release. She would also have to return the $284,796.82 she fraudulently obtained from the department.
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Who is Sarah Jane Cavanaugh?
Cavanaugh was previously employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs at the Rhode Island Veterans Affairs Medical Center. As per a news release from the Department of Justice, she misused her position there to "misappropriate veterans' identities, their combat experiences, their diagnoses of illnesses, and their valor to devise schemes to enrich herself."
According to an earlier report by CBS News, Cavanaugh obtained $207,000 from a Wounded Warrior program to pay for groceries and physical therapy. Further, she holed the agencies off around $18,500 in financial assistance from a program in Virginia for mortgage payments, home repairs, a gym membership, and other bills, and $4,700 from a fundraising website.
'Shameless financial gain'
This was not all, Cavanaugh collected another $16,000 from CreatiVets, a charity organization that provides art therapy for veterans. The convict also used her fraudulent cancer diagnosis to benefit from federal employee benefits programs availing leaves for months.
"Sarah Cavanaugh's conduct in the course of her scheme is nothing short of appalling," commented US Attorney Zachary A Cunha in the Department of Justice as per a news release. Adding, "By brazenly laying claim to the honor, service, and sacrifice of real veterans, this defendant preyed on the charity and decency of others for her own shameless financial gain. I am grateful that, with today's sentence, she has been brought to justice and will face the consequences of her actions."