A U.S. woman has been sentenced to eight years in prison for scamming family and friends out of tens of thousands of dollars by claiming her husband was sick with cancer.
Thirty-year-old Melanie Chen also was ordered to pay more than $792,000 in restitution to the 13 victims, plus court costs.
In August, the mother of six pleaded guilty to one count of theft. In exchange for her plea, a charge of receiving stolen property was dismissed.
Chen was sentenced Tuesday. She could have received up to 10 years in prison.
Her husband, 38-year-old Phylip Chen, also is charged in the case, but prosecutors have agreed to drop his charges if he passes a lie-detector test.
