Wife Who Stole Thousands In Cancer Scam Sentenced

DELAWARE, Ohio—A woman who stole thousands of dollars from her family and friends was sentenced Tuesday.

It’s a case NBC 4 has been following since April.

Common Pleas Judge W. Duncan Whitney sentenced Melanie Chen to eight years in prison and ordered her to pay $792,191 in restitution and court costs.

Melanie, 30, convinced about a dozen family members and friends that she needed thousands of dollars to pay for her husband’s medical expenses.

Relatives contacted authorities after they grew suspicious and the couple was unable to produce documentation of Phylip Chen’s medical treatment.

The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Melanie in Utah Wednesday, April 29. She was taken into custody at a Salt Lake City hotel and after being on the run for seven weeks.

She was indicted on the theft count and one count of receiving stolen property.

She was given a bond of $825,000 Wednesday, May 20.

Melanie pleaded guilty to one count of theft, a first-degree felony, Monday Aug. 10.

Phylip, 38, was accused of working with his wife to convince friends and family he had cancer.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges of theft and receiving stolen property.

Prosecutors have agreed to drop the charges if Phylip were to pass a lie detector test.

If Phylip were to flunk the polygraph, prosecutors in neighboring Delaware County expected him to plead guilty to one count of receiving stolen property and one count of filing fraudulent tax returns.

Prosecutors’ spokeswoman Traci Whittaker said that Phylip’s lie-detector test has not been scheduled.

She said if the results were inconclusive, Chen could face trial.

The Associated Press contributed information to this story.

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