A woman in Shaanxi Province was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 10,000 yuan (US$1,464) for falsely reporting that her granddaughter died from melamine-tainted milk in order to obtain compensation.

Tian Guirong, 45, of Hejia village in Danfeng county, complained in November 2008 that her infant granddaughter was sickened by the milk, according to cnwest.com.

She made the report at the time when thousands of children fell ill after taking tainted milk.

Authorities investigated but found the baby had not suffered from a urinary function failure as Tian claimed.

The real cause of the baby's death was not reported.

Tian did not stop her petition. She handed in 18 medical treatment receipts to the local health bureau in June 2009 and asked for compensation.

Authorities found that eight receipts valued at 77,000 yuan (US$11,326) were faked. A local court sentenced the woman to three years in prison and she was given a 10,000-yuan fine.

Tian appealed to a higher court, which upheld the original verdict earlier this month.

Local villagers described Tian as a greedy person who kept demanding additional compensation even after she received a 10,000-yuan grant from the local authorities.

"It is hard to tell whether there was a link between the baby's death and the poisoned milk powder. But Tian was too greedy," said Zhou Qiufang, a midwife in the village, adding that the 2-month-old baby girl died when the country was in panic about contaminated milk powder.

"At the beginning, she was healthy, but later she kept vomiting," Zhou told the Global Times Monday.

He Yongjun, the head of the village's clinic, told the Global Times Monday that villagers suspected Tian fabricated stories for compensation.