Disgraced nurse, 35, who faked cancer and muscular dystrophy so she could rip off donors and go on trips for disabled people pleads guilty to fraud

Sarah Delashmit, 35, pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges on Tuesday. She was accused of pretending to have breast cancer and muscular dystrophy to get money and be sent on free trips designed for disabled people in an elaborate years-long scam

An Illinois woman who pretended to have breast cancer and muscular dystrophy to get money and be sent on free trips designed for disabled people has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges. 

Sarah Delashmit, a 35-year-old former nurse from Highland, entered her plea on four felony counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud on Tuesday in US District Court of Southern Illinois.    

Delashmit was indicted in March of this year after authorities exposed her elaborate years-long scheme to defraud two non-profit organizations by feigning serious health issues.

Beginning in 2015, Delashmit claimed she had been diagnosed muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy so she could attend a charity camp for disabled people in Texas called Camp Summit, according to court documents. 

During two trips to Camp Summit, Delashmit confined herself to a wheelchair and allowed volunteers to help bathe and dress her.  

After her family and her pastor discovered she was lying about the muscular disorders, Delashmit pretended to be a breast cancer survivor in 2017 so she could attend the Young Survival Coalition national summit, where she was awarded thousands of dollars in donated gear. 

Beginning in 2015, Delashmit claimed she had been diagnosed muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy so she could attend a charity camp for disabled people in Texas called Camp Summit. At the camp she pretended to be confined to a wheelchair and allowed volunteers to clothe and bathe her even though she was capable of doing it herself

From October 2017 to March 2018, Delashmit pretended to be a breast cancer survivor so she could attend the Young Survival Coalition national summit, where she was awarded thousands of dollars in donated gear and posed alongside other

By pleading guilty, Delashmit admitted to defrauding two nonprofit groups and taking spots at the camp and summit that could have gone to people who actually suffered from the diseases she pretended to have.

She also admitted to purchasing a $4,499 triathlon bike with her mother's credit card before reporting the charge as fraudulent so she could get the bike for free in May 2019. 

Under the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop three aggravated identity theft charges against Delashmit, who was accused of stealing someone's identity multiple times to help with her scheme.  

Delashmit is expected to receive eight months in prison at her sentencing in January, after prosecutors and her lawyers agreed to that term length.   

Delashmit is expected to receive eight months in prison at her sentencing in January

Delashmit's campaign of fraudulent behavior started five years ago when she faked the muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy diagnosis.

In October 2015 and March 2016 she claimed she was diagnosed with the disorders so that she could attend Camp Summit. 

She also allegedly used someone else's Social Security benefit statements as proof of income in her application for the camp.  

White at the camp, she kept up the ruse by letting volunteers wait on her hand and foot, even though she could walk and was fully capable of caring for herself, prosecutors said.  

She also applied for and received more than $2,5000 in financial assistance to attend the camp due to the fake diagnosis, they said.    

When Delashmit was confronted with her lies by her family, she just 'got up out of the wheelchair and didn't say anything', a counselor at the camp told Dr Phil on a program aired last year. 

Camp Summit awarded Delashmit more than $2,5000 in financial assistance to attend the camp in October 2015 and March 2016, according to prosecutors

All of Delashmit's illnesses and disorders were fabricated by the con artist to scam non-profits out of money and goods destined for real victims, prosecutors said

The web of deception continued when Delashmit then falsely claimed she was a breast cancer survivor from October 2017 to March 2018 so she could to the Youth Survival Coalition summit in Orlando, Florida. 

During the trip she even donned a 'Survivor' shirt and stood alongside women who actually beat cancer.  

Delashmit got a travel grant to attend the summit, where she received a donated Giant Avail road bike and cycling gear as part of its Tour de Pink Survivor Bike Program.  

If she had been convicted on all eight counts levied against her in the March indictment, Delashmit faced up to 26 years in prison.  

The indictment called for Delashmit to forfeit the property she received by making the false claims, including a pair of cycling shoes, two bicycles and a jersey with the word 'Survivor' on it.  

Posing as a breast cancer survivor, Delashmit swindled New York nonprofit Young Survival Coalition out of donated items which should have gone to real sufferers, when she applied for and got given a new bicycle and cycling equipment through its Tour de Pink Survivor Bike Program

Delashmit's Facebook featured the words 'cancer patient' and an image of a bike

When she appeared on Dr Phil last year, Delashmit claimed she suffered from a 'lying addition', calling it an 'irresistible impulse'.  

Former friends who spoke out on the show claimed she had lied about having a husband and a dangerous stalker. 

Delashmit's deceptions also took a toll on her professional life, causing her to lose her nursing license, according to public records reviewed by the St Louis Post-Dispatch. 

She was forced to surrender her license with the Oklahoma Board of Nursing in 2014 after being accused of faking pregnancy two separate times while working in a neonatal intensive care unit in Oklahoma City. 

The second time, Delashmit allegedly made a fake belly by putting pillows under her shirt and showed ultrasound photos to colleagues before claiming that her twin fetuses died. 

Under a settlement with the Board of Nursing, Delashmit was required to pass a psychological evaluation before regaining her license.  

Her nursing license in Illinois was also suspended in 2015 after the state board discovered that she failed to report the incident in Oklahoma. 

The Illinois board ordered Delashmit to undergo a mental health evaluation after determining that she was 'mentally or physically unsafe to a degree that is or might be harmful or dangerous to the health of a patient or the public'.