Woman accused of faking breast cancer to raise money for implants

In August, more than 100 people showed up at Waco’s Hog Creek Icehouse Saloon in Texas to participate in an all-day benefit organized to raise funds for 24-year-old Trista Joy Lathern, who told everybody that, not having health coverage, she needed the money to treat her breast cancer. According to the McLennan County Sheriff’s Office, it was later discovered that Lathern never had breast cancer.

But after collecting an estimated $10,000 at the benefit, she did show up with a new, $6,800 set of breasts.



Lathern told everyone, including her husband, that she had cancer. She even shaved her head to make it appear that her hair had fallen out due to chemotherapy. No one questioned her, and some of her co-workers at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service in Hewitt even donated their vacation time to her so she could take time off from work for treatment.

Investigators say her plot began to unravel when she went to a local plastic surgeon, asking to have her breasts enhanced. The surgeon, who knew of the benefit, was suspicious because she never mentioned cancer. He passed the information on to his attorney, who contacted the local sheriff.



In the meantime, investigators say, Lathern went to another plastic surgeon in Austin and underwent the breast augmentation.

Lathern’s husband told detectives he didn’t know his wife didn’t have cancer until they informed him. Trista Lathern was arrested on Nov. 4. That same day, her husband filed for an annulment of their seven-month-old marriage. He also asked for custody of the couple’s two sons, ages 5 and 3.