40-year-old Monika Burgett fraudulently raised $26,000 on a GoFundMe for her five-year-old son who supposedly had terminal cancer, even managing to deceive her own husband.
Monika also pretended to be a doctor and became a part of her son's treatment team.
She was convicted of misdemeanour child endangerment and telecommunications fraud in August.
This Wednesday a judge sentenced the mum-of-three to five years on probation and intensive psychotherapy, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Monika will also pay back more than $26,000 to GoFundMe, which has procedures to refund people who have donated to fraudulent causes.
"You need help. You need significant help," Judge Curt Hartman told the mum.
The length of the probation sentence is the maximum amount allowed under the law. If she violates it, the 40-year-old could end up going to prison for three years.
Monika managed to dupe a number of people - from family members to doctors to her own husband - that her five-year-old had terminal cancer. As a result, he was treated with powerful pain drugs like methadone.
Assistant Prosecutor Anne Flanagan said that Monika used her son 'as a tool', according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. Monika would shave his eyebrows and head for GoFundMe photos, Anne stated.
The mum-of-four passed herself off as a doctor when she first brought her son to a paediatric pain clinic in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was only two years old at the time.
While in reality, the boy does not suffer from terminal cancer, he does have neurofibromatosis. It is a genetic condition that can cause benign growths.
The child is reportedly doing well now that he is out of his mother's custody and living with relatives in Texas.
A psychiatrist declared that the mum was not mentally ill. Judge Hartman said that, according to a psychologist's report, Monika was aware of her lies and would utilise 'selective misrepresentation'.
Despite undergoing counselling in the past, the psychologist's report raised concerns about her lack of commitment to therapy.
"What she needs to do now is open herself up to much higher levels of self-disclosure and self-confrontation" in therapy sessions, the report noted.
