Woman who faked cancer diagnosis to avoid prison 'an affront to every person fighting that battle,' the FBI said

• Ashleigh Lynn Chavez made a guilty plea in 2019 for embezzling more than $160,000 from a former employer.
• To avoid a prison sentence, she faked a cancer diagnosis by falsifying doctors' signatures.

The FBI slammed a woman who faked her cancer diagnosis to avoid prison as an "affront" to millions of people fighting the disease.

Ashleigh Lynn Chavez, 37, made a guilty plea in 2019 for embezzling more than $160,000 from a former employer. She'd face 12 months and one day in federal prison for this crime.

But in March 2021 — on the eve of her sentencing — Chavez's attorney presented doctors' notes which showed her having treatment for "cancerous cells" in her uterus, and thus she needed to avoid incarceration.

However, the Department of Justice found that these notes and her supposed diagnosis had been falsified, and Chavez faked a doctor's signature. Her attorney believed the note was genuine.

She now has to face an extra two years in prison for obstruction of justice, the Department of Justice has announced.

"This defendant went to appalling lengths to avoid her initial prison sentence by falsifying medical documents to claim she had cancer. This offensive conduct is an affront to every person fighting that battle," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy in a statement, per AP.

A fake note Chavez produced said she had "limitations due to uterine cancer and future need for radiation." They said her "condition has progressed… to Stage II; the cancer has spread to the cervix."

Another letter said, "she cannot be exposed to COVID-19" and thus should avoid prison.

A letter falsely attributed to a San Diego oncologist described a 12-month prison sentence as a "death sentence" for Chavez, thus recommending home confinement. The letter also said her cancer had metastasized to the lymph nodes.

But now, the Department of Justice has stated that the doctors to who these letters were attributed denied writing them, and one said they'd never heard of Chavez.

In April, she admitted that she'd faked the whole diagnosis.

In 2022, an estimated 1.9 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the US.