Temple woman who lied about stage 4 cancer diagnosis placed on probation

BELTON, Texas (KWTX) – A Temple woman who faked a cancer diagnosis and collected more than $7,000 from a fundraising website was placed on felony probation Monday.

Judge Steve Duskie of 426th State District Court in Bell County sentenced Emily Joyce Hinojosa to felony probation for five years after she pleaded guilty to two counts of felony theft of property. She was also ordered to make restitution to those who contributed to the fund.

Arrest documents allege that Hinojosa, 38, allowed friends and others to contribute to a GoFundMe website after lying about having Stage 4 breast cancer and withdrawing $7,085 from the fund.

Hinojosa admitted to Temple police after her arrest in July 2023 that she lied about her cancer diagnosis to the woman who started the GoFundMe site and others and said she “has a problem with making up stories about her medical health to gain sympathy from her friends so they would like her more,” according to an arrest affidavit.

The GoFundMe page for Hinojosa says she and her husband are the parents of three children, who “are their world.” The page said the fundraiser was started to help offset her medical and travel expenses and to help with their lost income.

The page said Hinojosa had “battled this hideous disease for nine years and said cancer had spread “throughout her body.”

“This is the biggest fight thus far for their family. Emily’s contagious smile and enormous heart make it a blessing to know her,” the organizers of the fundraiser wrote.

However, an organizer started getting suspicious of Hinojosa’s alleged diagnosis, telling officers her condition and lack of symptoms “did not match the extent of her claimed sickness,” an arrest affidavit states.

Sixty four donations were made to the fund from September 2020 to October 2020. Hinojosa was granted access to the GoFundMe account and made several withdrawals totaling $7,085, according to the arrest complaint.

Officers checked with four medical providers who Hinojosa claimed were treating her and discovered that three of the four had no record of her being a patient.

The fourth provided records showing Hinojosa was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and was said to be in 75 percent remission by May 2021, an arrest affidavit states.

“Nothing in the records from the fourth facility showed a diagnosis of Stage 4 cancer from July 2020 through November 2020,” the affidavit alleges.

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