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(Alabama Attorney General's Office)

Jennifer Flynn Cataldo (SCSO)

A Shelby County woman is accused of faking terminal cancer and fraudulently receiving $38,000 in donations through online fundraising campaigns.

Jennifer Flynn Cataldo, 37, of Sterrett, was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of first-degree theft by deception, jail records show. She is being held in the Shelby County Jail on $100,000 bond.

The Alabama Attorney General's Office began a joint investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation into Cataldo's online fundraising on April 13.

The investigation of Cataldo centered around her use of two online GoFundMe fundraising campaigns, where she received more than $38,000 from donors wanting to help her with medical bills and a family vacation to Disney. The fundraising campaigns identified Cataldo as a terminal cancer patient.

Investigators learned that Cataldo didn't have cancer, though, according to a news report, she claimed to have had the disease for nearly seven years. According to the AG's Office, Cataldo acted alone in the scheme.

Alabama Political Reporter columnist Josh Moon this morning wrote that he had been contacted by Cataldo's parents who claimed their daughter was bilked out of a $17 million legal settlement by then-Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange and then-Gov. Robert Bentley.

Cataldo's parents, Moon reported, had burned through their savings supporting their daughter and requested Moon report on the situation but he soon found the fraud was being perpetrated by Cataldo, not Bentley or Strange.

"I can't understand why she would've done it," Cataldo's father said Thursday afternoon in a phone interview with Moon. "I just don't know what would drive someone to do something like that. And I don't know how she could keep us fooled for so long."

A spokesperson for GoFundMe said donors to Cataldo's fundraising campaign will get their money back.

"First, our platform is backed by the GoFundMe Guarantee, which means that in the rare case that GoFundMe, law enforcement or a user finds campaigns are misused, donors will get their money back, GoFundMe spokesperson Bobby Whithorne said.

He said misuse of the fundraising platform is rare.

"With that said, there are unfortunate and rare instances where people create campaigns with the intention to take advantage of others' generosity," Whithorne said. "In the small handful of cases where misuse occurs, GoFundMe takes action to resolve the issue. The user has been banned, and we are working with law enforcement officials to make sure donors get their money back."

Anyone with information or who may be a possible victim of Cataldo is asked to contact the Criminal Trials Division by calling 334-353-1875.