DENVER -- A former Gunnison, Colo., woman who claimed she had cancer and raised more than $30,000 from well-intentioned donors has pleaded guilty to carrying out a charitable fraud scheme and will spend more than a month in jail.

Tausha Marsh, 30, must also repay the money people sent to her and send them handwritten apologies.

Marsh graduated from Western State College in Gunnison in May 2004. Soon after, she told a friend she had bone cancer in her tailbone. Then, in 2007, she told the same friend the bone cancer had nearly disappeared, but she had developed cervical cancer.

Posts on several social media sites indicated that she would have to travel to Europe for treatment. Marsh used part of the donations to fund that trip, according to investigators.

"I feel like I was running a marathon and as I was about to cross the finish line they extended the race another leg, which has been almost crippling to my body and mind," Marsh wrote in a 2008 letter to raise funds. "I have a will to survive and my strength will only carry me so far, which is why I am reaching out for help and support."

When police investigated in 2009, they accumulated 65 pages of reports from doctors and radiologists in Steamboat Springs, Fort Collins, Gunnison, Montrose and California. None of the reports mentioned cancer.

When police interviewed her, Marsh said the fundraising began without her consent and she did not want the money, although photos posted online by Marsh show her wearing a T-shirt promoting her cancer fund.

By February of this year, the cancer story had completely unraveled and Marsh pleaded guilty to felony charitable fraud and one misdemeanor charge of forgery.

On Monday, Gunnison District Judge Steven Patrick ordered Marsh to donate $9,000 to the American Cancer Society, as part of her punishment.

Marsh was also given four years' probation, 3,000 hours of community service and will have to undergo weekly counseling sessions, according to the Gunnison County District Clerk's Office.

So far, Marsh has paid back nearly $23,000, according to Gunnison court records.

She will begin serving her 36-day jail sentence on Sept. 30, in Gunnison County.