SALT LAKE CITY — A Heber woman already convicted of cooking-up a bogus cancer scam was arrested Friday in connection with new allegations of fraud.
Tania Clark, 37, was picked up by the Summit County Sheriff's Office after they received a complaint from the Canyons Resort in Park City who said Clark took $28,000 from an Arizona couple planning a wedding at the resort, Summit County sheriff's detective Ron Bridge said. He said the couple hired Clark to act as a wedding planner and didn't realize until they flew into town on Sept. 8 that their money wasn't used they way they had planned.
The money was supposed to go toward room reservations, alcoholic beverages for guests and a wedding photographer. Bridge said Clark instead used a credit card that was stolen from a Park City couple to book the rooms.
When the Arizona couple arrived at the resort in anticipation of their Sept. 11 wedding, they found there were no rooms reserved for them. The resort had previously canceled the reservation when they were informed it was made on a stolen credit card.
"This couple came into town thinking they were getting married and instead spent two days filing a criminal complaint," Bridge said Saturday.
Though the couple's wedding took place as planned, police are still investigating what happened to the money.
Clark was arrested for investigation of communications fraud, unlawful use of a credit card, unlawful possession of a credit card and fraud.
"There are multiple victims in this case," Bridge said. "The Canyons Resort, the credit card company and the credit card holder were defrauded, and the Arizona couple are the victims of theft."
Clark pleaded guilty to a charge of theft, a third-degree felony, in 2005 and was ordered to pay almost $6,000 in restitution for telling her family and friends that she had a rare cancer and then proceeding to collect money from them to help pay for treatment.
When they learned of her supposed condition, friends, family members, neighbors and an area hockey group where Clark's two sons played, rallied to help. The hockey group gave $1,000, and neighbors raised more than $9,000. A local elementary school raised $6,000 for Clark's treatment, but the school's donation went directly to the Huntsman Cancer Center, not to Clark.
The claims unraveled when the monthly South Valley Journal newspaper published a story about Tania's battle against cancer, prompting e-mails and calls claiming it was a scam.
Clark faced additional charges of theft by deception, a second-degree felony, and attempted theft, a third-degree felony in Salt Lake County. Both she and her husband, an agent with the Drug Enforcement Agency, were sued in federal court over the $47,805 the DEA paid to move the couple from Texas to Utah to aid in Clark's cancer treatment.
In a statement issued Saturday, Summit Count Sheriff Dave Edmunds summed up the situation and Clark's history.
"This woman has a history of fraudulent activities, and this case is still an ongoing investigation," he said.
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