A mother of five from Belleville, Ill., is facing criminal charges for lying about having terminal cancer and raising tens of thousands for herself over a two-year span. Alissa Jackson, 31, has collected $35,000 on her behalf, and besides, a restaurant donated 20 percent of their day’s profit to her cause, and friends and neighbors routinely dropped food off at her home three times a week. One person donated a minivan to her and another person even paid for a romantic getaway for her and her husband Brandon, the Medical Daily reported.

Jackson started off her scam by creating a Facebook page and organizing a fundraiser in her name called “Alissa’s Army Benefit.” The page explains how, after nine years working as a nurse, she had to stop because of her stage four ovarian cancer diagnosis, which was “very aggressive and has now spread to her brain, lymph nodes, spine, lungs and liver.”

Jackson was finally caught once she called her friends late one night to say goodbye because she was being rushed to the hospital. They rushed to the hospital too, only to find that Jackson had never been there before.

When they confronted Jackson, she broke down and told them the truth—that there had never been a cancer diagnosis to begin with.

"Her kids believed her story, which is the unfortunate and tragic part of this case. Her kids are victims of this in my mind," said Belleville Police Sgt. Mark Heffernan.

Jackson outraged many people in the community. She was a member of a softball team, “Chris’ Angels” to raise money for women with ovarian cancer. Chris Allsup, who actually had ovarian cancer, died in January and her twin sister Pat continued to raise money for Jackson.

Jackson has been charged with two felony theft counts and her bond is set at $100,000.