US beauty queen jailed on fake cancer charges

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (AP) – A beauty queen has been jailed on charges she faked having leukemia to benefit from fundraisers, and will be stripped of her title.

Online court records show 23-year-old Brandi Lee Weaver-Gates, of State College, was arraigned Tuesday on charges of theft by deception and receiving stolen property.

State police say an April bingo benefit raised $14,000 for the Miss Pennsylvania pageant winner. Police are asking the public to come forward if they have donated money to her.

Butler’s Beauties, the company that sponsors the pageant, says in a Facebook page statement that it was also “led to believe that she was dealing with this horrible disease” and are making her return her crown and sash.

Records don’t list an attorney for Weaver-Gates, who faces a preliminary hearing Aug. 19.