Mother Lied For Hannah Montana Tickets
December 31, 2007

Here's one more story of how far people will go to get what they want to make your stomach churn before you go celebrate the New Year. We're hoping the New Year brings a lot less stories like this one. A woman wanted tickets for her and her daughter to see Hannah Montana so badly that she instructed her six-year-old daughter to lie about her father having died in Iraq to win an essay contest. The winning essay in the Club Libby Lu, a salon for tweens, contest for the tickets read, "My daddy died this year in Iraq. I am going to give mommy the Angel pendant that daddy put on mommy when she was having me. I had it in my jewelry box since that day. I love my mommy." The girl won. Then things turned ugly.

It turns out that the girl's father is a carpet cleaner who is alive and well. The family now claims that they didn't know the essay needed to be true and that they thought it needed to be told like a Christmas story. The aunt of the family appeared on The Today Show this morning and said, "It was supposed to be told like a Christmas story, a good Christmas story, basically. And that's what she wrote, a Christmas story. But she didn't know it had to be true or anything."

The mother in question is named Priscilla Ceballos and she's echoed the "story" claims, telling ABC, "We never said anything like this was a true story. Never. It was just an essay. We do essays all the time. You know, my daughter does essays at school all the time. I never lied and said that the essay was a true story."

The story seemed pretty detailed considering it was fictional, including reporting that the husband of Ceballos was named Sgt. Jonathon Menjivar and that he was killed by a roadside bomb on April 17th. A quick search of Department of Defense records turned up no man by that name ever having served in the military.

The second place winner has been awarded the tickets, according to Mary Drolet, the chief executive of Club Libby Lu, who told People, "After awarding the grand prize, we unfortunately learned that the statements made in the essay were untrue. Club Libby Lu greatly values honestly and integrity. In order to uphold these values, we have decided to withdraw the award."

Prizes won by the girl included tickets to the sold-out show in Albany, New York, airfare, hotel, and a Hannah Montana gift bag. They have now all been given to the second-place winner, whose essay was apparently true.

For other stories about people behaving badly, check out our pieces about Rebecca De Mornay's DUI, B2K Allegation, and Mischa Barton DUI.