In the Troy case, police say Barton used websites to collect online donations after telling people and religious groups about the illnesses.

“It’s a shame that someone would claim to have cancer just to receive money,” Troy Police Chief Brad Parsons said. “Troy is a community that will come together to help each other when it’s needed. It is acts like this that make people more hesitant to assist those that really need the help.”

Parsons said a man who came across Barton on Facebook and tried to help her became suspicious and called police in June. Parsons said he doesn’t know exactly how much the woman raised through donations. He said it’s more than the $500 threshold required for a felony charge but less than $10,000.

Barton said she is being wrongly accused by Troy police and that members of the department have harassed her and her family for years. She told the Post-Dispatch that last year she found a lump in her breast and “jumped to conclusions” and told people she had cancer. Later she told people she had a benign mass of tissue removed, she said.