A former teacher who faked stomach cancer in Massachusetts and went on a spending spree with some $37,000 in donations from friends and family was sentenced on Thursday to two years in prison.

Heather Faria, 27, was found guilty in April of duping friends into holding a fund-raiser for her medical treatments and then spending the money on a vacation, a wide-screen television and jewelry, the Bristol District Attorney's office said.

A New Bedford Superior Court also sentenced Faria to eight years of probation after she pleaded guilty to five counts of larceny and one count of gross fraud, said Lisa Leonard, spokeswoman for Bristol District Attorney Paul Walsh.

Faria, a Massachusetts resident who worked as a high school special education teacher until last year, had told friends, family and colleagues that she could not afford cancer treatment and still have money left over for food, Leonard said.

She was exposed after the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, where she said she was receiving treatment, said Faria was not a patient, Leonard said.