The Region - News from March 17, 1987

A man who solicited public contributions with claims that he suffered from a rare form of liver cancer was sentenced to 60 days in a halfway house after pleading guilty to two counts of mail fraud. U.S. District Judge Harry L. Hupp said there is evidence that Brian O’Dell Jones does suffer from some form of illness, which may require medical or psychiatric help, or both, but recent medical tests concluded there is no cancer. Jones admitted mailing letters on American Cancer Society stationery, soliciting donations to pay his doctor bills. A suspicious recipient alerted federal authorities, who learned that the society does not solicit individual treatment contributions and knew nothing of the letters. Hupp also ordered Jones to submit to periodic medical, psychiatric and drug testing at the discretion of probation officials.