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A woman in Brazil was found guilty this week of living with a foster family for more than a year while pretending to be a child, officials said.
Amanda Maria Souza de Oliveira, who is in reality 37 years old, was convicted of fraud and false identity on Thursday, according to a translated release from the Court of Justice of Santa Catarina in Brazil.
Oliveira, who the family took in as their daughter for 14 months until her scheme was uncovered, claimed she had fled abuse.
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The woman later admitted to creating a false identity and age, the court said.
Oliveira had been living falsely as a child for 15 years in an “elaborate fraud,” the Washington Post reported, using a high-pitched, childlike voice and even telling people she had been forced to get hormones to make her look older.
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She was sentenced to one year, six months and 10 days in prison, along with four months and 18 days of detention.
One of her lawyers, Lúcio Sousa, said that Oliveira’s scheme was how she “survived.”
“She admits that she invented an identity,” Sousa said before the verdict, according to the Post. “It was the way she found to survive. But she has been a vulnerable person for more than 20 years.
“She has lived on the streets, and there has been no allegation that she obtained any financial advantage, or committed robbery or theft, which, in theory, means the elements of fraud have not been established.”
Oliveira said she never meant to hurt anyone.
“Of course, I deceived people, I lied,” she said, according to police, the Post reported. “But I didn’t intend to scam anyone.”
She said she wanted to experience the love she never got as a child.
“There was a certain void in me, a need to have that kind of care, so I always sought it out,” she said.
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After the verdict, Sousa said in a statement on Instagram, they would “pursue all appropriate legal measures and appeals before the higher courts.”