The indictment says she deceived donors with “representations that Gaus had cancer” and collected at least $1,000 in donations.
Gaus didn’t enter a plea in court Wednesday because she didn’t have a lawyer. The court will appoint her a public defender and she is scheduled to appear again Friday morning.
The total of how much Gaus may have collected is still unknown, Champaign County Prosecutor Kevin Talebi said, because so many individuals and organizations donated.
The Fraternal Order of Eagles in Woodstock held a fundraiser in 2013, said Chief Deputy Rick Jordan of the Champaign County Sheriff’s Office.
Hundreds of people attended the fundraiser and collected thousands of dollars that night, organizers said.
Several other local fundraisers also donated funds, Jordan said. According to the website Youcaring.com, the website raised $1,045 on the online page in 2013.
Gaus — a mother of four young children — claimed to have brain cancer, according to an online fundraising site.
“This type cancer is very progressive, resistant to chemotherapy (and) radiation, and considered inoperable due to the location,” it says on the fundraising site.
The communities of Mechanicsburg and Urbana are still recovering from learning about the alleged scam. In 2002, Teresa Milbrandt of St. Paris was sent to prison for lying that her then 7-year-old daughter was terminally ill with leukemia.
“Why would you think of anything, cancer specifically, to do a fraud because there are many people out there who are dealing with it and it’s very sad,” said Heather Thurman, 20, of Urbana.
In 2013, Michelle Mundy pleaded guilty in Clark County to felony theft as part of a plea deal for lying about having cancer and taking money raised in her honor.
It’s sad others in the community were allegedly duped again, said Darrell Heckman, of Urbana.
“You would think that would make people even more cautious but people have a good heart and they want to help out and they’re vulnerable,” he said.
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