A 23-year-old woman from southern Ontario who admitted that she faked having cancer in order to raise money for herself has been charged with fraud.
Ashley Kirilow walked into a police station in Oakville on Friday at around 9 p.m. and turned herself in, said Halton Regional Police Service Staff Sgt. Anthony Odoardi.
"She is being charged with three counts of fraud under $5,000," Odoardi told ctvtoronto.ca on Saturday.
Kirilow will spend the weekend in jail before appearing in a Milton court on Monday.
Kirilow allegedly raised thousands of dollars by starting a cancer research fund. However, police received complaints about the charity in June.
It is alleged that Kirilow shaved her head and plucked her eyebrows in order to appear like a chemotherapy patient.
She appeared at a bail hearing earlier on Saturday, but was kept in custody.
It appears that Kirilow's charity, called 'Change' For a Cure, is little more than a Facebook group.
On the group's page, there are pictures of Kirilow along with photos of a glass jar full of pocket change.
Some of the cash was apparently raised at small punk rock shows, two of which were recently held at a Toronto-area venue called Sharon Hall.
As news of the arrest spread on Saturday, so did anger over the allegations against Kirilow.
A teen named Jamie Counsell wrote on his blog this week that Kirilow's charity actually raised about $20,000 in cash, which was supposed to be donated to the University of Alberta for cancer research.
"As many of you know, I have done a lot of work in the past with ‘Change' For a Cure. I personally raised over $1,500 by running two local shows at the Sharon Hall. These shows saw so much love, and so much talent," Counsell writes.
"I am writing this to inform you of some news that I am sure will raise some questions. We have been contacted by family members of Ashley Kirilow, the founder and director of ‘Change' For a Cure, who have told us that Ashley never had cancer."
If convicted, Kirilow could face jail time.
