Nearly two years after she was sentenced, a woman convicted of accepting money to fight cancer she didn’t really have has begun her time in prison.
Kristin Holzman was convicted in May 2012 of theft by deception after she faked cancer and accepted thousands of dollars donated to help her with battle the disease.
After she was convicted, Holzman said she was sorry and that she wanted to pay the money back. She also blamed a seizure disorder for her actions.
Holzman was sentenced June 28, 2012 to three years in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, and she was ordered to pay more than $16,000 in restitution.
She spent just 24 hours in the Henry County Jail before her appeal was filed and her family posted $7,500 bond to get her released while that appeal went through the courts. Her attorney cited pre-trial publicity and the restitution amount among the reasons for her appeal.
Holzman learned in March 2014 that the Appellate Court denied her appeal and her request for a new sentence.
With most options exhausted, Holzman turned herself in Monday, April 14, 2014 to begin serving her prison sentence. She could serve as little as one-and-a-half years of the three-year sentence according to Henry County State’s Attorney Terry Patton.
Holzman was held in the Henry County Jail until the Illinois Department of Corrections determines where she will serve out her sentence.