Former Okanagan woman who lied about having cancer convicted in new fraud

A former Okanagan woman, once jailed for lying about having cancer and scamming people out of thousands of dollars in donations, has been sentenced again for fraud in Alberta.

On Feb. 20, Krysta-Lynn Williams pleaded guilty to a single charge of fraud in a courtroom in Drumheller for her role in a scam that again conned dozens of people out of thousands of dollars.

Williams’ latest grift happened in the fall of 2023, when she set up a company called DBL Meats and took online orders.

The company was supposedly based in Kelowna, but customers reported they weren’t getting their orders and instead getting excuses for non-delivery until all communication was cut off. The company’s website was down and the phone no longer worked. 

After a customer complained to the police, it was revealed that no such company existed.

Police traced the bank account and found numerous money transfers had gone to Williams’ account.

In December 2024, the 38-year-old was arrested at her parents’ home in Ontario and charged with defrauding customers of $59,980.

A couple of customers had sent her $3,000 for meat orders they never received, others had sent $1,500. The smallest order was $375.

There was no description in court of how the scam worked or how Williams convinced her unwitting customers to purchase such large orders.

While Williams’ fraud was valued at $59,980, she only pleaded guilty to ripping off seven victims for a total of $11,750. There was no explanation of where the other money went, and it was said that there were others involved who hadn’t been identified. The court heard that a person called Ms. Cameron was somehow involved in the matter, but details weren’t given on how they fit in.

The defence lawyer stressed that Williams wasn’t the ringleader, but ripping people off is a pattern of behaviour she’s well used to.

She has previously done time behind bars for fraud and left a trail of unsuspecting clients out of pocket for numerous scams over the years.

She’s previously used her maiden name, Neadow, to con others into parting with their cash often presenting herself as a woman in the trades.

Her most infamous scam happened in 2018 when she was living in Calgary.

She faked having cancer and set up a fundraising campaign. With a shaved head and a photo of her on an IV drip to convince people she was having chemotherapy treatment, she scammed many.

She even lied to her own husband about having cancer, and raked in $16,000 before police got wind of the scam.

Williams was later sentenced to six months’ jail.

Years after the cancer scam, Williams now ex-husband said her deception had completely destroyed him.

“I felt like everything that I knew had been ripped away from me,” he told iNFOnews.ca in December 2024.

The courtroom in Drumheller heard nothing of her prior cancer scam, only that she had done jail time for fraud and was in a custody battle with her ex-husband over their nine-year-old daughter.

Williams lawyer, Funda Multay, said her client had trauma from the relationship as it had been “toxic and abusive,” not once mentioning she’d lied about having cancer.

The court heard that Williams had since been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and personality disorder and that at the time of the meat scam was was not taking medication for her mental illness.

“The separation from her daughter, not being able to see her daughter grow up, and then dealing with her family being far away… at the time of this event, essentially, Krista was quite vulnerable and not really doing anything rehabilitative to address any of the concerns and issues that were going on in her life,” the defence lawyer said.

However, the Multay said things had now changed.

“She has turned her life around… she’s seeing her doctor regularly. She’s attending counselling regularly. She’s taking her medications to address the more significant mental health concerns,” the lawyer said. “Although this is a very serious offence, this is not done out of greed, but rather desperation compounded by untreated mental health issues, among the other very legitimate structures that she was experiencing in her life at the time.”

The court heard she lived in Calgary with her boyfriend and worked as a painter for Urban Painters.

In a joint submission to the court, lawyers asked for a sentence of 18 months’ house arrest.

Justice B. Shaw questioned the sentencing submission, pointing out that Williams had only just finished her probation when she committed the fraud.

“Often, when we have an individual come back before the court having committed a similar type of offence, we’re often looking at a sentence that’s an increase from the last sentence that they received,” the Justice said, noting that her stint in prison hadn’t rehabilitated her.

Ultimately, the Justice settled on the joint submission, putting Williams on a six-month 24/7 house arrest — although she will be able to go to work — followed by a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.

She was also ordered to pay back $5,875 – half of the money taken.