Students Pledge To Help Cancer Groups After Girl Faked Illness

Da Vinci school students turned an uncomfortable situation into an unparalleled learning experience Tuesday afternoon.

Those students were among a list of donors that had worked to raise money for a Horizon City teenager named Angie Gomez. Police say Gomez would trick people into thinking she had cancer so they would donate to a phony foundation in her name.

“We didn’t want to believe it,” said Da Vinci student council president Eliana Grijalva about the day she heard the allegations against Gomez.

Da Vinci students had spent months raising money for Gomez’s foundation and even threw Gomez a prom with donated funds because they thought Gomez had missed her own prom battling cancer.

“We decided to reach out and help. We still stand for everything we stood for back then,” said Grijalva.

Horizon City police charged Gomez with felony theft by deception, alleging she took $17,000 in donations under false pretenses. The District Attorney’s office is in the process of reviewing the evidence against Gomez.

Tuesday afternoon Da Vinci school administrators held a special assembly for students. They decided to donate the money originally meant for Gomez’s foundation to three legitimate cancer-related organizations: The Ronald McDonald House, The Candlelighters of El Paso and Susan G. Komen Foundation. Each organization received a little more than $1,000.

Da Vinci superintendent Iris Burnham addressed students at the assembly. She told students she wanted the potentially negative experience to, “not to let it defeat you or sour you, but make you more dedicated to doing the right thing even when others around you may not.”

“It’s an important lesson,” said Grijalva. “It’s taught us not to lose hope after someone betrays you.”

ABC-7 reached out to Angie Gomez’s attorney, Sheldon Myers. Myers said, “Ms. Gomez feels very remorseful about the situation and looks forward to explaining what happened at the appropriate time.”