Arizona woman who faked cancer to get abortion found guilty of fraud

PHOENIX — An Arizona woman who faked having cancer to get a state-funded abortion was found guilty of fraud on Monday.

The jury has reached the following verdicts in State v Chalice Zeitner: Guilty on all counts.

— MC Superior Court (@courtpio) April 25, 2016

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office originally filed its case against Chalice Renee Zeitner last year, after she told her obstetrician that she had cancer and her pregnancy put her life in further danger.

The office said Zeitner presented information to the obstetrician that she was suffering from Stage 4 sarcoma and had tumors in her abdomen and lower spinal area.

Zeitner’s attorney, Adam Schwartz, told jurors in opening statements that Zeitner was told she had cancer and she did not set out to defraud anyone.

“The requirement is that she did this knowingly and intentionally,” he said. “The fact is that Ms. Zeitner did genuinely believe she had cancer in 2009 and 2010.”

Assistant Attorney General Maura Quigley depicted Zeitner as a woman who incessantly plotted not just to get an abortion, but to turn others’ sympathy into money.

“The state will ask you to hold the defendant accountable for her false statements and misrepresentation about the fact that she had cancer in order to get a pregnancy termination that was paid for by the state of Arizona and money from a cancer fundraiser when she never had cancer at all,” Quigley said.

According to attorneys for the state, Zeitner told her doctor in 2010 that she was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation for cancer and that her fetus had been exposed to radiation. After a specialist found her fetus was healthy, they said Zeitner didn’t give up the alleged scheme and forged a letter from another doctor that stated her pregnancy had to be terminated to save her life.

The Arizona health care program in which Zeitner was enrolled covers the cost of abortions in limited circumstances, such as when a mother’s life is endangered. Prosecutors said she never mentioned cancer when she applied.

Investigators said the scheme was discovered a year after the April 2010 abortion when a doctor who performed a C-section during Zeitner’s subsequent pregnancy found no signs of cancer. Another doctor who was listed on medical records as having treated Zeitner for cancer later said he never treated her.

The state estimates that more than $6,000 was spent on health care related to her abortion.

She is also accused of using a fake identity on social media to convince her boyfriend to set up a fundraising website for her cancer treatments.

She faces a trial May 25 in a separate case in which she is accused of defrauding a charity for military veterans and the leader of a second charity in 2012.

She allegedly persuaded one charity to buy $7,700 worth of tickets for a gala with the promise of returning the money and providing a portion of the event’s proceeds. But investigators said Zeitner canceled the event and instead spent the money on personal expenses.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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