Woman who pretended to be sick Marine gets nearly 6 years

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island woman who pretended to be a sick Marine veteran to collect about $300,000 in benefits, charitable contributions, and donations has been sentenced in a federal court to nearly six years in prison. Sarah Jane Cavanaugh was also ordered to pay full restitution. Prosecutors say Cavanaugh was a social worker at a Rhode Island veterans’ hospital who used stolen patient information to pass herself off as a decorated Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and got cancer after exposure to burn pits and from inhaling particulate matter from a bomb explosion during those tours.