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Girl lies about Iraq death for sold-out tickets

GARLAND, Texas — The opening line to an essay that won a 6-year-old girl four tickets to an upcoming Hannah Montana concert was a powerful one: “My daddy died this year in Iraq.”

It also appears to be false.

The girl’s mother admitted to contest organizers that the essay and the military information she provided about her daughter’s father were untrue. Now the sponsor of the contest is considering taking away the girl’s tickets, said the CEO of Club Libby Lu, a Chicago-based store that sells clothes, accessories and games intended for young girls.

Company spokeswoman Robyn Caulfield said Priscilla Ceballos, the mother, has admitted the essay was false.

“We did the essay, and that’s what we did to win. We did whatever we could do to win,” Ceballos said in an interview with Dallas TV station KDFW. “But when (Caulfield) asked me if this essay is true, I said, ‘No, this essay is not true.”’

Ceballos had told Club Libby Lu officials that the girl’s father died April 17 in a roadside bombing in Iraq, Caulfield said. She identified the soldier as Sgt. Jonathon Menjivar.

But the Department of Defense has no record of anyone with that name dying in Iraq.

“We regret that the original intent of the contest, which was to make a little girl’s holiday extra special, has not been realized in the way we anticipated,” said Mary Drolet, the CEO of Club Libby Lu.

The saga began Friday with company officials surprising the girl at a Club Libby Lu at a mall in suburban Garland, about 20 miles northeast of Dallas. The girl won a makeover that included a blonde Hannah Montana wig, as well as the grand prize: airfare for four to Albany, N.Y., and four tickets to the sold-out Hannah Montana concert on Jan. 9.

Later in the day, the company learned that the essay was false.

“We are reviewing the facts in the matter so that we may determine an appropriate resolution to the situation,” Drolet said.