Texas Woman Allegedly Fakes Breast Cancer to Pay for Breast Implants

image_8678589We have previously seen stories where people fake cancer or illnesses to get friends and co-workers to give them money. However, Trista Joy Lathern, 24, of Texas takes the cake. She is accused of faking breast cancer in order to get friends to donate money, so she could get breast implants to save her failing marriage.

Friends and neighbors of Lathern put together a charitable benefit and raised $10,000 by taking time off from their vacation allowance and even donating hours of work pay to her. A flier asked people to attend the benefit at the Hog Creek Icehouse, noting that Lathern has two boys and no insurance. Her husband claimed that he believed that she had breast cancer until a police detective told him last month. This may be true, but I am curious how a husband is not present for at least one visit with a doctor to discuss his wife’s prognosis and treatment.

Investigator James Pack alleges that she even shaved her head to pretend to be going through chemotherapy.

Various businesses donated items and at least three bands donated their time to play at the benefit.

A local plastic surgeon became suspicious after he learned about the benefit — and the fact that Lathern asked only about the breast implants and never mentioned chemotherapy. He was given cash for the breast enlargement and reported it to the police.

It is not a crime to pretend that you have an illness, but, when you use that fraud to obtain gifts, you move from being a horrible person to being a horrible criminal defendant. What will be challenging for her lawyer will be to use the two boys as a basis for a claim of mercy when they were previously used as a basis for the alleged fraud.

For the full story, click here.

56 thoughts on “Texas Woman Allegedly Fakes Breast Cancer to Pay for Breast Implants”

  1. I pity the poor women…but some one need to make her understand that she cannot support a failing marriage with bigger breasts.

  2. Some conservatives want people who aren’t insured to rely on the kindness and charity of others.

    This woman’s community, thinking she had cancer, appears to have gone all-out and raised $10,000.

    How many weeks of cancer treatment do you think $10,000 buys?

  3. I just lost my good friend to cancer,how dare this so called WOMAN do such a thing!! And now they are thinking about taking the implants from her?????
    What are you thinking people?? Who is going to pay for this? Are you going to have a fund raiser for it?????????
    Let her pay for the operation and if she can’t afford it,lol,keep her in jail for the price as well.SHAME ON HER!!!!!!!

  4. Elaine M:

    “Question: Are women who have big breasts because they’ve had surgical implants inclined to have higher scores on intelligence tests?”

    My opinion, although not in anyway connected to the medical establishment, is probably not.

    “And I suppose that women who wear pushup bras are just attempting to look “smarter” to the opposite sex.”

    That is a big 10-4! LOL

  5. Byron–

    I had to laugh as I was reading the article you linked to.

    Question: Are women who have big breasts because they’ve had surgical implants inclined to have higher scores on intelligence tests?

    I wonder what test the sociologist used.

    I guess when getting into her bra, a woman could say that she’s just putting on her thinking cap.

    And I suppose that women who wear pushup bras are just attempting to look “smarter” to the opposite sex.

  6. “According to a study carried out by a Chicago sociologist in 2003, women with big breasts had ten point higher I.Q’s. on average than their less well endowed counterparts. This sociologist conducting the study, who admitted to being a 32A in breast size, looked at 1200 women of various breast sizes. She divided the women into five categories based on their breast measurements. These included extra-large, large, medium, small, and extra-small breast sizes”

    http://beyondjane.com/women/are-big-breasted-women-more-intelligent/

    Looks like this young woman was just trying to increase her IQ.

  7. Leah–

    I enjoy your “tongue-in-cheek” humor. I hope your bona-fidey husband does too.

    As for the thong line: “I don’t know about you, but I’ve spent my life trying to keep my underwear OUT of there”. That’s a keeper!

  8. Leah,
    A salient comment. As a father of Daughters and a lifelong feminist it pisses me off greatly the myths that women are sold in society. The flip side is the crap men are sold. When the feminist movement began anew in the 1970’s I rejoiced in the belief that this could help both sexes. Unfortunately, like much in politics it got bogged down in issues far divorced from the movement’s original intent.

  9. nal–

    Well, if a man can’t change a tire–he should at least be able to climb the rungs of a ladder and get the dead leaves out of the gutter.

    The garbage take-out should be a shared responsibility.

  10. Elaine,

    Biceptuals–that is great! Those are the guys moving along the beach looking at their stomachs, singing, “I am so into you!”

  11. FF LEO–

    Thanks so much!

    What may appear “skewed” to you–seems shrewd to me. Now please don’t go pointing out the “shrew” in shrewd.

  12. Those run-flat tires are problematic for men.

    There’s still the take-out of the garbage.

  13. Ms. EM’,

    You are the perfect addition to this blawg. You complement the other intelligent females who frequent this cyberspace and grace us with their presence—notwithstanding your genders’ sometimes-skewed feminine perspectives.

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