(Source: Maricopa County Sheriff's Office) Kelly Ann Wasko is accused of faking cancer to bilk people out of thousands of dollars.PHOENIX (CBS5) -
A Gilbert woman accused of faking cancer to bilk donors pleaded guilty to theft and fraudulent schemes.
Kelly Ann Wasko, 41, was arrested Dec. 3 after dropping her children, ages 8 and 10, at school.
She originally pleaded not guilty but changed her plea on Wednesday.
[READ: Police: AZ woman faked cancer, received $20K in donations]
Wasko's caper began in December 2011, according to police, when she told an adult daughter living in Colorado that she had Hodgkin's lymphoma and needed a bone marrow transplant that her insurance policy would not cover.
"She told me that she lost her job. She had cancer," said neighbor Donna Fontaine. "I can't believe she would do that."
Wasko's daughter built a Facebook fundraising page that collected more than $12,000 for Wasko.
The daughter, however, said she started to become suspicious after donating $1,000 of her own to her mother. When things didn't add up, the daughter contacted authorities in Colorado, who contacted police in Gilbert.
Police said Wasko also defrauded an additional victim out of $8,000.
She is scheduled to be sentenced on May 7.
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