EASTON, Pa. — A Pennsylvania woman who pretended to have AIDS to collect medical and welfare benefits was sentenced Monday to 18 months to seven years in prison.

Cassey Jo Weierbach, 29, will be eligible for parole in a few months with time served. She apologized for duping people.

"I'm very sorry for all of this," Weierbach told Northampton County Judge Stephen Baratta. "I have remorse for what I've done."

Baratta read through a long list of mental health problems that Weierbach has been diagnosed with and said he hopes she gets the help she needs.

Before her arrest in 2006, Weierbach had traveled the lecture circuit with her account of being raped and infected with AIDS as a child, telling her story for years to news reporters, churches, youth groups and medical conferences.

She was charged with defrauding the state of Pennsylvania of $66,000 after The Morning Call of Allentown newspaper published a story in which a pastor accused Weierbach of duping her congregation.