Attorney for Teen who Faked Cancer Answers Questions

The 19-year-old high school student who faked having cancer then accepted thousands of dollars in donations, did it for good reasons, her lawyer says.

Angie Gomez is charged with theft by deception. The charge is a state-jail felony which could land Gomez behind bars for up to two years and make her pay a $10,000 fine.

Criminal defense attorney Sheldon Myers sat down with ABC7 in an exclusive interview, Friday.

?She got people to donate to a charity; she got people to do a good, positive, altruistic thing,? Sheldon said. ?And here she is charged with a felony for it.?

We asked Sheldon where her parents were when Gomez was faking a cancer diagnosis, appearing on local television, and pulling in thousands of dollars in donations.

?The mom, I don?t know how much the mom knew, I don?t know how much the mom was paying attention,? Myers said. ?It would be hard to think that mom wouldn?t have known, because it was in the media, and Horizon?s a small town. How much she knew or not, I don?t know.?

Gomez collected around $17,000 in donations. Myers says there is only $3,000 to $4,000 left in the account Gomez established. The remaining $13,000 was spent on t-shirts and items to sell in order to bring in more money, Myers says.

?Angie didn?t take the money,? Myers said.