Inset: Haleigh Knight. Background: A GoFundMe that Haleigh Knight’s victims say she launched to scam people with a phony cancer diagnosis (KLAS/YouTube).
In a startling revelation, a woman from Nevada has confessed to fabricating a pancreatic cancer diagnosis to manipulate others into showering her with attention and affection. Among those deceived was a genuine cancer survivor who became her unwitting benefactor, providing gifts and support as a “chemo angel.”
“She’s a sociopath,” declared Rachel Riedel, a victim of Haleigh Knight’s scam, during an interview with NBC affiliate KSNV. Riedel warned, “She will scam you if she can get close to you.”
Hailing from Henderson, a city just south of Las Vegas, Haleigh Knight pleaded guilty to a felony theft charge last month. She acknowledged defrauding numerous individuals out of over $20,000 between June 2023 and April 2024, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Knight admitted to securing funds through GoFundMe and directly collecting cash from her victims, which she used to settle personal bills and purchase items for her children.
According to court documents reviewed by Law&Crime, Knight’s sentencing is slated for June 24. Meanwhile, more victims are stepping forward to share their experiences of being defrauded by her.
Suzanne Duroy, a breast cancer survivor, told KSNV about her involvement as Knight’s “chemo angel,” offering nearly $1,000 in aid and gifts after being moved by her fictitious cancer story.
“I felt heartbroken for her,” Duroy shared. “I underwent a bilateral mastectomy, 33 radiation treatments, six rounds of chemotherapy, a full hysterectomy, and am still on medication for cancer.”
Duroy is among several people who have come forward after Knight was charged in January to speak out about what happened. Court documents obtained by local CBS affiliate KLAS say Knight admitted to cops, in addition to prosecutors, that she orchestrated an elaborate cancer scheme to gain people’s cash and sympathy.
Prosecutors said text messages Knight sent to her victims showed her confessing to posing as different people and creating GoFundMe accounts to keep up her cancer act, KLAS reports. One victim, Cydney Fink, provided photos to local media showing Knight taking selfies with bandages on.
“She goes on apologizing to Cydney for what she’s done and then states she has no excuses, and she did what she did because her head feels messed up and like she’s two different people and she can’t control it,” court documents say about the text messages Knight sent. “Haleigh states she faked having cancer so that Cydney and her family along with Haleigh’s family would feel guilty and more inclined to love and be around her if she claimed she was sick.”
In the texts, Fink asked Knight how she pulled off her scheme, and she said “very very sneakily,” according to the court documents.
“I was following her updates on her GoFundMe because they were posting continuous updates on her treatment plan,” Riedel told KSNV.
“I feel so manipulated that she would just use me for information when I was here with my husband, crying because I felt so bad for her,” Duroy said, noting how she used to spend hours on the phone with Knight answering questions about cancer and what Duroy went through. “What she’s done to all these other women is absolutely terrible, because so many were her friends, and they would have helped her if she needed help.”
Under the terms of her plea deal, Knight has agreed to pay $19,787.12 in restitution, according to the Review-Journal. If the restitution is paid in full and she completes her probation and other court-imposed requirements, she can withdraw her felony plea and plead guilty to misdemeanor theft and receive credit for time served, per the Review-Journal.
