Woman charged with lying about cancer

updated 8:42 p.m. ET Aug. 31, 2007

LOGAN, Utah - A woman whose claim of cancer won her leniency in a drug case was charged with lying about the illness.

A letter with a doctor's signature said Andrea Shaw, 35, needed aggressive treatment for breast cancer. But Dr. Albert Hartman of the Women's Wellness Center in Ogden said he never wrote the letter.

Shaw was arrested Thursday on charges of forgery and writing false statements.

"I got taken to the cleaners," said prosecutor Tony Baird, whose mother died of cancer.

"It just absolutely infuriates me. Cancer, if you have ever experienced that with someone, you know the hell it is. It eats them up," Baird said.

The report of cancer had persuaded the prosecutor to offer Shaw a plea deal in a case involving illegal prescriptions. The case would be dropped in 18 months if she avoided legal trouble. Now, Baird plans to revisit that deal.

There is no phone number listed in Shaw's name.

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